ABSTRACT
Subsaharan Africa has more than one-third of the goats in the world and almost one-fifth of the sheep. Meat, milk and skin production from African small ruminants is respectively 16, 14 and 15 percent of total world output from goats and sheep. Goats produce altogether about three times as much milk as sheep. Small ruminant pest, pasteurella and other pulmonary diseases are major killers of goats and sheep while foot rot and parasites are of lesser importance in the dry areas. An extremely important part of the role played by small ruminants is their longer-term ability to withstand difficult conditions. Meat and milk are the main products of all the domestic ruminants. The faster reproductive rate of small ruminants, their more rapid growth and early age at offtake enable them to produce meat on an annual basis at approximately twice the level of their contribution to the herbivore standing biomass.
