Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of conservation tillage systems were as follows: lack of access to inputs including
herbicides and application technologies, lack of mechanization for seeding and har-
vest, uncontrolled grazing, lack of forage in cropping systems, and lack of access
to capital to invest in the new tillage system. The authors conclude that adoption of
conservation tillage systems will be very slow in Mongolia because of the lack of
access to knowledge and the technologies to implement such tillage systems.
Hannam (2010) examined soil and water conservation issues in Mongolia and
argues that the country should engage in long-term planning to introduce national
soil and water conservation programs at the farm level. He asserts that soil and water
conservation is sorely needed in Mongolia because land resources have been in a
constant state of degradation since the 1950s when the country embraced an indus-
trial model for development. While Mongolia is the seventh largest country in terms
of land area in the world, most of the land is not appropriate for agricultural pur-
poses. Land that is productive is rapidly being developed, and soil resources are
being degraded. Most of Mongolia's exports are raw or partially processed natural
resources.
Mongolia's climate is slowly becoming drier, which contributes to land degrada-
tion from overgrazing. Forests are being removed, which subjects deforested land
to severe erosion. Wheat production was expanded tremendously from the 1960s
through the 1990s. At the present time, about 60% of the crop land previously
devoted to wheat production has been abandoned and subject to wind and water ero-
sion. About 50% of the remaining cultivated cropland has been severely eroded, and
>95% of the total land area of the country is susceptible to becoming desert.
Existing farming systems are slowly destroying soil fertility and food, and fiber
production is declining. Only 1.5% of the land area is devoted to crop production
and 1% for production of hay. More than 95% of the land is devoted to pasture.
Overgrazing is widespread, and herds have been expanded without consideration of
the environmental impacts. Given the high level of soil degradation that has been
observed, the country must develop a means of reducing soil loss quickly before
soil degradation reaches such a low level that future productivity of land resources
is destroyed.
Hannam (2010) has examined multiple action options to control erosion and con-
cluded that institutional structures must be developed and implemented within the
country. One of the first problems the government needs to address from his perspec-
tive is land tenure rights. Land is presently state owned, and land managers pay rent
to the government to access land for agricultural purposes. Land managers do not
invest resources in land that the government owns because they may not benefit from
their investments. Problems created by existing land tenure policies are complicated
by the fact that most land managers do not possess management skills necessary to
operate farms nor do they have access to economic resources to purchase needed
farm inputs.
Farm technologies are not accessible to improve productivity. Poverty is increas-
ing in rural areas, and little is being done to correct the problem. Institutional struc-
tures do not exist to deliver environmental information or technical assistance. No
institutional structures exist to conduct scientific research on problems unique to
Mongolian agriculture, and no means exists to have new knowledge delivered to
