Through the South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Programme (SAPPLPP) FAO helped strengthen the capacities and knowledge on implementing sustainable small ruminant and smallholder poultry rearing interventions in two selected districts of India. Through the execution of field projects that demonstrate how major constraints faced by smallholder livestock keepers could be overcome, and institutional systems established (including community institutions), the two-year, US$385 000 project has enabled smallholder livestock keepers to collectively access required inputs and benefit from the expanding market for small ruminant products.  A joint initiative between FAO and the National Dairy Development Board of India (NDDB), the field projects in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are designed as ‘integrated’ interventions linking each stage of the small ruminant/ smallholder poultry value chain from improving productivity and facilitating access to inputs, to supporting institutions of smallholder rearers to collectively access markets.