Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Livestock sector in the GCC - statistics & facts
Livestock farming, including animal husbandry, is an important agricultural industry sector. Livestock and their by-products are used for human consumption, and the agricultural value chain leads to economic interests worldwide.
Animal husbandry started with general farming activities during the agricultural revolution some 12 thousand years ago in the fertile crescent of the Middle East.
While the agricultural revolution created the first permanent human settlements (as people stayed with their crops to tend over and protect them), keeping livestock was still agreeable with a nomadic lifestyle, especially in a region where water was scarce. Sheep were the first animal to be domesticated in the area and, to this day, play an essential role in the livestock sector of the Middle East. Besides sheep, lamb, and mutton, the leading livestock animals within the Gulf Cooperation Council region are goats, cattle, camels, and chickens.
