In the past three decades or so, considerable efforts have been expended in livestock research and development in the Himalayan region of India and Nepal. Development efforts have been geared towards improving animals are gaining economic importance and what have been the development experiences of institutional programmes. To do so, this paper reviews and analyses:1) the temporal changes that took place over the past years in terms of livestock population and composition and 2) the institutional programmes for developing the livestock sector. Finally, it draws implications on these experiences for livestock planners and policy makers and raises several research issues related to livestock sector development.
