ABSTRACT
The International Livestock Centre for Africa is evaluating the possibility of improving small-scale sheep and goat production systems. Individual owners typically keep two to four breeding animals, with goats being more common than sheep. Rural owners are generally male farmers involved in food or tree crop production and women involved in food processing or marketing. Many women in the rural areas combine goat production with their food processing activities. Although small ruminants are mainly owned by individuals for consumption at public ceremonies, once these requirements are met the surplus is sold. Because animals produced in the south are generally insufficient for households' consumption, few animals are currently available for the market. Caretaking is common in southwest Nigeria; borrowing for breeding is also practiced throughout the south, probably because there is an overall shortage of breeding stock and because disease-prone markets are an unsuitable source for the purchase of breeding stock.
