INTRODUCTION

The importance of agriculture to Mongolia’s economy - i.e. its rural economy in particular- makes sustainable agricultural development a national priority. The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by its member states in September 2015. The long-term development goals were set according to the basic government budget and socioeconomic development guidelines from mid-term development action plans, which are the following: [Goal 1] reach $17,500 GNI per capita and enter the UMIC (Upper-Middle Income Countries) stipend group; [Goal 2] maintain 6.6% annual economic growth between 2016 and 2030; [Goal 3] eradicate all forms of poverty; [Goal 4] reduce income inequality and provide a social ladder to include at least 80% of the population in middle class or upper-middle class; [Goal 5] achieve 100% enrollment rate for primary education and vocational training, as well as establish a lifelong learning system; [Goal 6] improve the public’s health and living conditions, and eventually increase their life expectancy to 78; [Goal 7] become one of the top 70 countries in terms of HDI (Human Development Index) ranking; [Goal 8] enter at least top 30 of world GEI (Global Entrepreneurship Index) ranking for ecological balance and preservation; [Goal 9] Achieve corporate environmental index national ranking of at least 40 and world GCI (Global Competitiveness Index) ranking of at least 70; and [Goal 10] eradicate corruption at all levels by establishing professional and safe governance participation and development policies, among others. As an ambitious step to further boost the momentum of the 2030 Agenda as well as to generate profit from the sustainable development framework being established through the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), the Government of Mongolia formulated and endorsed the Sustainable Development Vision of Mongolia 2030 (SDV 2030).

Based on this, this study aims to identify the status quo of Mongolia’s agricultural sector and review the challenges of research and extension system for the agricultural growth potential as the driving force in Mongolia’s economy. This paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 summarizes overviews of status, vision, and policy related to agricultural sector in Mongolia. Section 3 describes the research and extension system framework for the growth of agricultural sector. The conclusion and policy implications are detailed in Section 4.

STATUS, VISION, AND POLICY RELATED TO AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

To realize the economic dimension of sustainable development, Mongolia established a long-term goal to implement a sound macroeconomic policy and diversify the economy in order to meet the objectives of sustainable economic development. The development of agriculture - especially light and food- industry will give the highest priority to a number of industries or sectors including construction materials; copper processing; coal; fuel and chemicals; lead smelting; tourism; mining and extraction, while energy and infrastructure being the leading sectors.

For the Mongolia’s long-term sustainable development, the primary objectives set for agriculture development are to (i) reach at least 60 percent target of its farmland to go disease-free for export and import quarantine, (ii) increase the number of purebred livestock to 200,000 head through intensive livestock farming, (iii) increase the application of zero-tillage to 90 percent of the total land, expand the total area of irrigated arable land to 120,000 hectares, and meet the demand for 100 percent self-supply target by delivering domestically produced seeds, as well as to (iv) enable rural households to become financially stable by providing them with appropriate- or useful- technologies.

The government aims to preserve its gene pool and increase the resilience of pastoral livestock in order to better adapt to climate change; increase productivity; create a proper flock structure of livestock in line with enhancing its grazing capacity; reduce grazing and land deterioration; and rehabilitate land among others, by adopting international standards in animal disease traceability, inspection and maintenance technology, and eventually develop the livestock sector to become competitive enough in international markets. The three phases to achieve the goals are as follows:

Mongolia has prioritized the Khangai and Central regions as the main regional development areas, and Khangai was selected as a high priority area for environmentally sustainable meat and dairy products, quality leather, wool and cashmere. The government plans to establish an Agro Production and Technology Park in Khangai, which is designed to increase productivity and logistics accessibility of agricultural products including vegetables, leather, wool, cashmere, milk, dairy products, meat and meat products. Currently, more than 40 sites have been selected, eight of which will preferentially go under development during the initial stage.

As one of Mongolia’s three focus areas, agricultural development has mid-term goals of strengthening food security and increasing agricultural income by livestock aid programs and capacity building, which are well in line with the national development policy. The absence of policy or market-based mechanisms to control livestock population and lack of awareness about rangeland degradation have led to increasing herd sizes. According to this year’s census by Mongolia’s National Statistics Office, the number of livestock animals in Mongolia totaled 70.99 million head, including 32.26 million sheep, 29.26 million goats, 4.75 million cattle, 4.25 million horses, and 0.47 million camels (Figure 1).

This indicates the ideal sheep-to-goat ratio (75:25) for environmental sustainability has not yet been reached, whereas the current sheep-to-goat ratio is 52:48; the less closer to the ideal ratio, the more likely an excessive number of goats cause negative impacts on the environment and deter its sustainability.

Mongolia’s agricultural sector comprises of animal husbandry, dairy farming, agro-processing, producing field crops, vegetables, honey, fruits and berries. The agricultural sector accounts for nearly 14 percent of the nation’s total GDP. Livestock sub-sector accounts for more than 87 percent of agriculture production. As intensive livestock farming practices are not widely implemented, livestock is spread over a vast territory.

Mongolians have traditional and nomadic animal husbandry by utilizing the mobility of people and animals throughout all four seasons. Mongolian animal husbandry is similar to livestock production, but is very specifically focused on livestock farms compared to other countries. Livestock sector’s production more than doubled between 2010 and 2016 (at current prices). The main livestock products of Mongolia are meat, milk, wool, cashmere, hide and skin as shown in Table 2.

The number of intensive livestock farms in Mongolia has grown over the recent years. In 2017, Mongolia had 3,592 intensive livestock farms, 48% of which were milk cow farms and the rest 42% were sheep (lamb/mutton and wool) farms as shown in Figure 2 (MFALI, 2018).

Among all food exports from Mongolia in 2016, rapeseed oil accounted for 68%, followed by meat and meat products 16%, and pure honey 9%. Other products with smaller share included dairy, nuts, berries, tea.

1. Meat Industry

The meat industry has traditionally been an important part of Mongolia’s economy. Despite its increased production, revenue generation, employment and export growth, the meat industry is affected by extreme climate conditions, and thereby producers within the industry are increasingly becoming vulnerable to climate change. According to the report by the MFALI (Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry), there were 123 meat processing plants nationwide (MFALI, 2018). 79 out of these were located in Ulaanbaatar and 44 in the countryside. Around 97% of meat was slaughtered by herders instead of at modern abattoirs. For example, while the total meat production was 448,300 tons in year 2015, only 12,600 tons of meat was processed through large-scale mechanization, merely accounting for less than three percent of total production as shown in Figure 4). However, processed meat through manufacturing technology nearly doubled in 2017, reaching 24,500 tons.1

The Mongolian meat industry suffered from insufficient veterinary service and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). According to MFALI, there were several reported FMD cases from 22 soums (counties) in 2010. But later in 2016, FMD was reported from only one soum. The Government allocated budget for animal disease prevention and treatment, a large share of which goes to combating diseases (65%), prevention (17%) and disinfection and decontamination (13%). In 2017, around 7.2 million animals from 75 vulnerable areas were vaccinated against FMD, including Govisumber, Dornogovi, Khentii, Dornod, Khovd, and Bayan-Ulgii aimags, along with seven districts of Ulaanbaatar. The Mongolian Meat Association members and ministry-level officials have identified modernizing domestic slaughtering capabilities as a mechanism to reduce FMD cases. Centralizing the meat production system will enable or enhance tracking, accountability and measuring, resulting in a significant reduction of the number of FMD cases.2

2. Cashmere Industry Policy

From 2011 to today, the Mongolian Government approved and implemented a number eight measures to promote the cashmere industry. The Government’s action program for 2016-2020 called for an increase in credit to the number of cashmere related industries to 300 billion MNT (US$116 million). As a result of these policies and measures between 2011 and 2015, 42 enterprises obtained soft loans from the Government. Cashmere producers doubled their processing to 2,600 tons of raw cashmere. In addition, sales turnover increased by 35-40 percent in 2014.

However, 75 percent of the entire processed cashmere was only simply washed and combed, failing to leverage a certain level of added value for exported goods; in order to create some room for profit, the former Mongolian Ministry of Industry set the following objectives for 2016-2018: 1) Stop exports of washed cashmere and wool from 2016, and ensure that 50 percent of cashmere is exported as semi-processed combed cashmere and wool, while the remaining 50 percent shall be domestically used to produce finished goods. 2) Increase woven or knitwear products to 3.6 million units and textile fabrics to 440,000 meters. 3) Stop combed cashmere export from 2017 and process cashmere 100 percent domestically, and increase knitwear to 6 million units and textile fabrics to 1.2 million meters. 4) Ensure that the sales turnover in the cashmere industry reaches 1.9 trillion MNT, and wool sales turnover 244 billion MNT. Mongolia has several goat breeds including Mongol pure breed, Govi gurvan saikhan, Uulin bor, Altain ulaan, Unjuul uulder, Zalaa jinst white goa, Erchim and Bayandelger red goat breeds. Around 80 percent of Mongolian cashmere has average thread diameter of 1,416.5 microns and an average length of 38-43 mm.

In summary, despite of vision and policy related to agricultural sector of which livestock accounts for more than 87 percent, to meet the objectives of sustainable economic development, there are some limitations in following areas: extreme climate change, the productivity and profitability, animal disease, inspection and maintenance technology, and the advancement in value-added of exported goods.

RESEARCH AND EXTENSION SYSTEM FOR THE GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

During the socialist system, all agricultural research institutions were under the control of MFALI. It was therefore easier to align research programs with national agricultural policies and government programs. It was also easier for researchers to put their work into practice through the demonstration farms assigned to them, even though accepting the corresponding research results was compulsory. This enabled them to conduct their study on a farm, and allowed farmers to expand the scale of their business if appropriate.

The overall national planning process is designed for a three-to-five-year period of implementation at the parliament level, which would then trickle down to ministries and then to research institutes. The Government of Mongolia would determine and plan major areas of agricultural sector development and assign the MFALI for its implementation, which is known as state assignment. The MFALI would then set sub-sectoral priorities and address other relevant issues deemed necessary, in order to carry out the state assignment. The Ministry of Finance would then allocate funding to responsible research institutes to conduct research projects contributing to major areas of the sector development plan.3

Even though the government provided necessary funding for research facilities and equipment, the research capacity was limited to basic applied research, heavily relying on examples of the Soviet experts. It is estimated that there were about 3,500 researchers in Mongolia during the socialist period (STF, 2015). The main research areas included: animal disease; diagnostics; veterinary medicine development; plant and animal gene bank study; breeding; animal and plant nutrition; fertilization; new variety development; crop and animal production and protection technologies; soil erosion and soil protection studies; and identification of plant, insect and other species.

While the Government struggled to align research projects with its relevant policy and programs, as well as disseminate research results to farmers in a timely manner, the needs of the researchers and farmers were not considered as research priorities. This top-down and non-participatory system significantly limited innovation and its room to adopt good practices. International relations and collaboration with other research institutes in terms of expert exchange, capacity development and advanced education were limited to Soviet Republics.

However, the transition to a free market economy has significantly affected the nation’s research and extension services and institutions. Among the current diverse agricultural research and extension system, the main players and their roles in the Mongolian research and extension system are as follows4: 1) the Government – to develop agricultural production, research and extension policies, set priorities for agricultural research and extension activities, and partner with external agricultural players or donors; 2) Public research institutions and agricultural universities – to carry out long- and short-term research projects, test a variety of technologies and offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees in agriculture. Both research institutions and universities have extension centers that offer a range of training sessions; 3) National extension centers (public) – to organize training and extension activities across the nation through their aimag and soum branches. They often liaise with international project stakeholders and provide training programs and other activities, rather than connecting farmers with researchers or other stakeholders; 4) Private sector – to provide goods and services -i.e. mainly suppliers and veterinary medicine services- to farmers for profit; 5) NGOs – to implement government- and non-governmental programs and international projects, and bid on tenders for input importations purposes; 6) International projects – to provide funding for inputs, equipment, and expertise, and support technology transfer; 7) Farmer associations and commodity groups – are often formed by politicians for lobbying purposes, involved in implementing international and national projects (when funding is available); 8) Farmers and agricultural producers – traditionally receive research and extension services.

Nevertheless, all actors above are experiencing lack of resources when conducting their respective roles. Relatively insufficient linkages between the players result in limited collective impact on the ground. Unfortunately, public investment in research, development and extension barely reaches its target clients; namely, Mongolia’s agricultural producers. As shown in Figure 8, there is a major gap between producers and the public sector’s research and extension system - i.e. the government investment made in the research sector does pay off to the government as in report formats among other measures, but the results fail to reach or benefit local farmers. In Figure 8, the dotted arrows represent limited interaction and relationship between the entities. Farmers and producers are at the bottom of the information and technology chain; as a result, they are excluded from research planning, implementation and reporting.

In contrast, modern agricultural research and extension systems suggest that farmers should be included from the beginning of the chain formation as well as the center of the system, rather than being passive recipients in the end. Meanwhile, the non-public sector should play the appropriate role to reduce the gaps between farmers and the public sector, for example she often has the closest network with producers by acting as a bridge. However, the scope of their focus and target are rather limited because the implementation of international projects is often patchy, both geographically and thematically.5

In terms of public extension system, the National Agricultural Extension Center (NAEC) is the main public organization located in Ulaanbaatar for agricultural extension and advisory services, established in 1996 under MFALI. Its legal status is defined in the Laws on Science and Technology. The Mongolian Government Resolution 286 established the NAEC with the mission “to develop a sustainable food and agriculture sector by motivating and educating rural citizens through an effective technology transfer system.” (Buyandelger, 2004). The Government agreed to finance a certain portion of this program. The program’s first phase ran from 2004 to 2007, and the second phase from 2008 to 2010. The second phase of the program indicated that it would expand its scope of activities by 2010. The NAEC was established to conduct its role as a national umbrella institution for directing and coordinating extension services. The NAEC’s main activi-ties include: organizing training events; providing consulting services; disseminating information; transferring technology; advocating government policies; and developing international relations with global agricultural partners.

The public extension system in Mongolia currently employs a mostly top-down, linear approach for decisionmaking and other extension activities. Its administrative structure is rather more theoretical than functional. At the central level is the MFALI, with the NAEC as the main public extension organization (Figure 8). At the provincial level, the Department of Agriculture in the aimag government is responsible for providing extension and advisory services. As of 2013, each province had an extension service and training center with one officer in charge respectively as a result of international project investment. Until 2010, about 180 soums had been equipped through international projects with advisory service centers with a focal point or a local adviser; however, once the international projects ended, funding for soum extension centers stopped and the centers were closed. In 2010, the government established animal health and breeding units through the National Livestock Program, designating three specialists for each soum respectively. One of those specialists was appointed as a focal point for extension, responsible for transferring new technologies and research results, in addition to his/her main duties; however, in practice, there was little activity at the soum level; i.e., the presence of extension personnel was rather nominally symbolic at the most.

Until February 2015, the MFALI administratively managed the NAEC, whereas the local government managed the provincial and soum offices. There is no specific coordination mechanism among those three levels, since provincial and soum governments do not receive a specified budget for extension services, nor does the NAEC have a budget for coordinating extension activities at the decentralized level. Currently, collaboration and coordination between these three levels are mainly based on personal relations or through a hierarchal request from the Ministry. 6

As non-government sector, Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS) should provide crop and livestock production intensification, agribusiness development, new technology adaptation and adoption, agricultural investment and small-scale farming (e.g. poultry, beekeeping), in terms of training and advisory services. Also, MULS’s consulting and advisory services focus on three areas: a) agribusiness, b) policy advising, and c) consulting for development cooperation. The advisory services focus on short-term consultancy assignments with development organizations in Mongolia.

Next, NGOs in Mongolia are very active, and their participation and recognition are increasing significantly at different levels of the society. There are many farmer organizations and associations formed around certain commodities, production systems and geographical areas. According to the National Statistics Office of Mongolia, 6,468 NGOs were registered in Mongolia in 2013; about 13.4 percent of them, or 867 NGOs, were operating in areas related to agriculture and rural development (NSO, 2013). About 75 percent of those NGOs had less than five staff members and about 60 percent of them had to rely on funds from international projects and donors (OSF, 2015). Although the total number of NGOs registered has been high, there are not enough functionally active NGOs nor producer organizations. That is, finding collective or organized data from NGOs and farmer organizations in agriculture remains as a challenge.

Some of the NGOs are politically driven, some are fundor project- driven, and some are service-driven. They also vary in size and scope of activity. Some are relatively small and tend to have a targeted group of members and services. For example, the Mongolian Female Farmers’ Association (MFFA) works with female urban and semi-urban vegetable growers primarily involved in backyard gardening. The head of this NGO is well recognized and respected. The MFFA provides a significant amount of training sessions to vegetable growers and supplies seeds, seedlings and other essential garden supplies; however, these services are not complementary. The NGO is self-funded from the sale of seedlings, garden tools, seeds and pesticides, and from training and advisory service fees. Advancing partnerships between NGOs and public institutions -e.g. line ministriesvary significantly depending on the motive and coverage of their activities. Larger NGOs with wider membership coverage or activities often participate in some government activities such as policy or program development, monitoring, evaluation, and project implementation. Partnerships between the Government and NGOs are coordinated by two main policies, the Mongolian Law of NGOs (1997) and the State Policy on Public-Private Partnership (2009). In addition, Parliament Resolution 93 concerning partnerships between the Government and NGOs reinforced the need for more public services and goods to be carried out by NGOs (National Association of Mongolian Agricultural Cooperatives [NAMAC], 2015). Since the resolution in 2009, MFALI signed 35 contracts in 2009, 108 contracts in 2010 and 71 contracts in 2011, with NGOs among other entities to carry out public services and activities (MoFA, 2015).

Since the National Program for Cooperative Development (NPCD, 2009-2017) was launched, the cooperative movement increased significantly in Mongolia. With year 2012 designated as the International Year of Cooperatives, even more attention was given to the work of cooperatives. Therefore, specialized and often small-scale equipment from NGOs is required for primary producers who lack sufficient access to productive inputs including livestock genetics, feeds, medications, seeds, equipment and inputs for feed production.

In summary, during the socialist system, all agricultural research institutions were under the control of MFALI, which is known as state assignment. This continues till now such as top-down. However, even though the government provided necessary funding for research facilities and equipment, the research capacity was limited and the international relations and collaboration with other research institutes in terms of expert exchange were poor. Moreover, after the transition to a free market economy, relatively insufficient linkages between the players result in limited collective impact on the ground. For example, there is a major gap between producers and the public sector’s research and extension system including weak coordination mechanism among the central and local government and the local research or advisory center. Therefore, to bridge the gaps between farmers and researchers and to help realizing the nation's agricultural growth potential, the non-public sector such as MULS and NGOs should play the appropriate role to reduce the gaps between farmers and the public sector. This can contribute to overcome limitations in extreme climate change, the productivity and profitability, animal disease, inspection and maintenance technology, and the advancement in value-added of exported goods in agricultural sector of which livestock accounts for more than 87 percent.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Sustainable rural development is a high priority for Mongolia. Agriculture is the main source of employment for rural people and is central to the livelihoods and the culture itself for rural families. Despite the sector’s importance, the potential for agricultural growth and development has not been fully realized, and investment in research and extension system remains very low. The provision of agricultural services, particularly extension services, nearly collapsed during the country’s transition to a free market economy in the 1990s.

The objective of this review is to outline the current status of Mongolia’s agricultural sector and research and extension system, and to identify its key constraints. This report contributes to comprehensive medium- and longterm strategies for the agriculture sector.

Since the breakdown of the centrally planned economy and the privatization of state-owned collective farms, the agricultural production system in Mongolia has changed dramatically. The traditional top-down technology transfer system has fallen apart; replaced by free competition for information and technology, and demand for better production systems. Meanwhile, there were more inexperienced and less knowledgeable farmers, and the linkages between researchers and farmers and coordination mechanism among the central and local government and the local research or advisory center have weakened. Realizing this gap, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a loan to the Government of Mongolia to establish agricultural extension services that bridge the gap between farmers and researchers.

The main players and their roles in the Mongolian research and extension system are: 1) The Government – to develop agricultural production, research and extension policies, set priorities for agricultural research and extension activities, and partner with external agricultural players or donors; 2) Public research institutions and agricultural universities – to carry out long- and short-term research projects, test a variety of technologies and offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees in agriculture. Both research institutions and universities have extension centers that offer a range of training sessions; 3) National extension centers (public) – to organize training and extension activities across the nation through their aimag (province) and soum (village) branches. They often liaise with international project stakeholders and provide training programs and other activities, rather than connecting farmers with researchers or other stakeholders; 4) Private sector – to provide goods and services -i.e. mainly suppliers and veterinary medicine services- to farmers for profit; 5) NGOs – to implement government- and non-governmental programs and international projects, and bid on tenders for input importation purposes; 6) International projects – to provide funding for inputs, equipment, and expertise, and support technology transfer; 7) Farmer associations and commodity groups – are often formed by politicians for lobbying purposes, involved in implementing international and national projects (when funding is available); 8) Farmers and agricultural producers – traditionally receiving research and extension services.7

However, most of all, to bridge the gaps between farmers and researchers and to help realizing the nation's agricultural growth potential, the non-public sector such as MULS and NGOs should play the appropriate role to reduce the gaps between farmers and the public sector. This can contribute to overcome limitations in extreme climate change, the productivity and profitability, animal disease, inspection and maintenance technology, and the advancement in value-added of exported goods in agricultural sector of which livestock accounts for more than 87 percent.

적 요

이 논문의 목적은 몽골 농업의 연구 현황과 과제를 파악하 는 것이다. 몽골의 농업 분야는 몽골 농촌에서는 문화 그 자 체이며 농촌 가구 고용의 핵심 동력이다. 하지만, 몽골 농업 분야는 1990년대에 몽골이 자유시장 경제로 체제전환을 하면 서 오히려 성장 동력을 잃고 있다. 특히 몽골 농업 연구에 관 한 투자가 매우 낮은 수준에 머물러 있는 동안 농업 분야 종 사자와 연구진 사의 간극은 더 커지고 있으며 농업 분야의 연 구 투자가 이러한 격차를 좁히는데 기여할 뿐 아니라, 몽골 농업의 성장 동력을 다시 회복하는 데 기여할 것이다.