Socioeconomic determinants of small ruminants production among farmers in Osun state

In the study, the socio-economic determinant of small ruminants ’ production in rural setting in Nigeria was investigated. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection from 120 small ruminants’ farmers and analysed with descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Findings show that older farmers (55%) dominated ownership of goats and sheep. Semi intensive system was still practiced with majority dependent on forage grazing for the animals. Major identified problems constraining small ruminant production included lack of capital/credit, land, pests/diseases and feed shortage. A regression analysis result showed that certain socio-economic variables such as income, years of rearing experience and educational level had direct impact on small ruminant production (R2=0.78). The findings suggest that improved small ruminant production could be achieved by giving considera-tions to those significant variables; creating enabling environment through the provision of micro-credit and extension services to ameliorate the problems faced by the farmers. Key words: Socio-economic, small ruminant, ownership, rural Nigeri