Indian Sheep Sector: Past Traditions, Current Status and Emerging Transformations

Abstract

Over the last seventy-five years, India’s sheep sector has evolved from largely subsistence-based pastoral systems into a more market-oriented and increasingly technology-supported enterprise. Although the national sheep population has grown only moderately from 39.1 million in 1951 to 74.26 million as per the 20^th Livestock Census, the increase in production has been substantially higher over the same period. National mutton production was expanded nearly tenfold, reaching 1.185 million tonnes in 2024-25, while wool production was stabilized with 34.57 million kg production in 2024-25. These trends reflect a broad sectoral   transformation driven by genetic improvement, region-specific nutritional strategies, improved reproductive and animal health management and supportive policy initiatives. India currently ranks second globally in sheep population, underscoring the country’s importance in the global small ruminant sector. While mutton has emerged as the principal economic driver, wool continues to retain strong regional and livelihood significance, particularly in arid and hill ecosystems. This review describes the historical evolution and current status of sheep husbandry in India, covering traditional production systems, population and production dynamics, breed diversity, including the development of synthetic breeds. It also highlights key constraints such as shrinking grazing resources, slow genetic progress, limited reproductive technology adoption, disease burden, weak market, youth exit and climate stress. Finally it proposes a forward-looking roadmap for enhancing productivity, climate resilience, value addition, and value-chain efficiency, with the overarching objective of ensuring sustainable livelihood support for resource-constrained small ruminant farmers across the country.