26 Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 91 (5): 350–359, May 2021/Review Article Small ruminant production in dryland regions of India: Status, challenges and opportunities ARUN KUMAR 1 , S S MISRA 1 , I S CHAUHAN 2 , G R GOWANE 3 and A K SHINDE 1 ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan 304 501 India Received: 15 July 2021; Accepted: 21 July 2021 ABSTRACT Small ruminants are important components of smallholder production systems in dry regions of the country and require technological transformation for bringing the farmers out of the vicious cycle of poverty. There is huge scope of improving the income and livelihood of farmers in these harsh topographies because of expanding market and demand for small ruminant products. Live animal sale is the main source of income from small ruminants contribute up to three-fourths-of total income. Milk of sheep is produced in negligible amount and consumed in households while goat milk is well in demand but small portion is sold by farmers and mostly used in households. The price of wool is depressed, whereas carpet wool produced in some regions receives prime price in the market. The main factors affecting small ruminant production in dry areas are feed scarcity, poor genetic make of animals, poor health cover facilities, lack of proximity to market and climate change effects. The technological adoption for enhancing productivity of small ruminants in dry areas has been discussed in this overview. The genetic improvement of small ruminant resources, valuation of breeds, exploring value addition/alternative uses of wool and goat milk, improvement of range management, feed base, use of unconventional feeds, flock health management, reproduction management, improving feed efficiency, value addition, quality issues, creating farmers’ organisations, improving market access are some of the issues that need priority in research and development for improving productivity of small ruminants for better livelihood security and income generation of farmers in dryland regions. With the concerted efforts of research, extension and development workers, living conditions of small ruminants farmers can be improved which will alleviate poverty, create employment opportunity in rural areas and reduce migration of younger generation to the cities. Keywords: Challenges, Dryland, Opportunities, Production, Small ruminants India is blessed with huge livestock population under diverse production systems and agro-climatic conditions. Livestock plays an important role in the economy of the country in general and sustainable livelihood of poor people of dryland areas in particular, because of uncertain rainfall and recurrent droughts making crop farming very risky. Livestock sector contributes 4.9% to National GVA and 28.4% to agricultural GVA at current prices during 2017- 18 (BAHS 2019). Goat farming provides 4% rural employment in the country. A total of 33 million rural households (24% of households) are rearing goats; out of these, 20 million are marginal, small farmers and landless rural families and they are holding >76% of goats (DAHD, Singh et al. 2018). Apart from the monetary benefits from milch animals, the role of small ruminants like sheep and Present address: 1 ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan. 2 ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand. 3 ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana.  Corresponding author email: karunt04@yahoo.com goats is very important, as they serve as a lifeline during drought years by providing income and sustenance. Out of the total households rearing sheep in the country, 89.12% of them were from dryland regions and in case of total households rearing goats, 66.56% were from dryland regions of the country. In dry regions, sheep contribute sizably to income and livelihood of farmers (DAHD 2014). Among livestock, 72.44 million (97.54%) sheep and 111.41 million (74.83%) goats in dryland region together play a very important role in economy of the region, provide livelihood to two-thirds of rural community and contribute a lion’s share in country’s production from small ruminants i.e. 1319.05 million kg (74.28%) meat, 5.53 million tonnes (90.70%) milk and 38.75 million kg (95.87%) wool in 2018- 19 (BAHS 2019). India has 328.76 million hectare of total land, out of which 50.94 million ha (15.49%) land falls under arid, 122.52 million ha (37.26%) land under semi- arid, 75.42 million ha (22.94%) land under dry sub-humid and 7.0 million ha (22.34%) land under cold arid regions (Tewari et al. 2014). Traditionally, small ruminants are reared by the poor https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v91i5.115385