Goat rearing is an enterprise that is both suitable for poor households who own little or no land, and is resilient to climate change. Goats largely browse shrubs which are more tolerant of rainfall variations than the grasses eaten more by sheep, cattle and buffalo.

The project, Small ruminant value chains as platforms for reducing poverty and increasing food security in dryland areas of India and Mozambique (imGoats), was implemented in Udaipur district in Rajasthan from 2011 to 2013. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) partnered with BAIF Development Research Foundation, an NGO, to implement the project.

The project worked with 2,685 goat-keeper households in two blocks of Udaipur district in Rajasthan. These were organized into 244 groups that were facilitated by 25 community based service providers called Bakri Mitra (field guides). These are local goat-keepers with some education who are trained on improved goat husbandry practices. They…