Agriculture and Land Distribution in Mongolia
Mongolia, formerly known as Outer Mongolia, is a large landlocked country in between Russia and China in northeastern Asia. Throughout the 20th century, the country was a satellite of both China and the Soviet Union under the stark rule of the communist party. However, during the 1990s, Mongolia transitioned to a multi-party democratic rule. Geographically, vast semidesert plains and some mountainous formations dominate the country, which currently has a total territory of almost 1.6 million square kilometers, somewhat smaller than Alaska. Likewise, Mongolia has a total population of little over 3 million citizens, more than 70% of which live in an urban setting, notably the capital city of Ulaanbaatar with approximately 1.4 million inhabitants. The country’s national annual gross domestic product (GDP) is about US$36 billion and it has experienced positive economic growth in recent years. Nevertheless, because the Mongolian economy is profoundly tied with its neighbors, the recent economic slowdown in China and Russia has also decelerated exports and growth in Mongolia. The Mongolian economy is divided into 15% agriculture, 35% manufacturing, and 50% services. Similarly, the agricultural industry employs 31% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs 19% and services employ another 50%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry only utilizes 73% of the national territory, while another 7% is forested.
In terms of natural resources, Mongolia has petroleum, coal, copper, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, fluorspar, gold, silver, and iron. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on construction materials, mining, oil, food & beverages, animal products, and natural fiber manufacturing. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products wheat, barley, vegetables, forage crops, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and horses. In terms of trade, Mongolia’s main partners are China, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, and South Korea. During 2015, Mongolia’s exports totaled US$5.15 billion and its imports came up to US$3.98 billion, resulting in an overall trade surplus of US$1.17 billion. Furthermore, the country’s main exports that year were mineral products, such as crude petroleum and copper ore, at 72% or US$3.7 billion, as well as precious metals, such as gold, totaling 16% or US$823 million.
Agriculture and Land Distribution in Mongolia
In Mongolia, unfortunately, some 600.000 people suffer from undernourishment. Likewise, in recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin in the country has been of 46 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers supply 47% of the average food energy intake in Mongolia. Simultaneously, land distribution and output in the country has evolved throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, permanent pastures and meadows in Mongolia covered little over 140 million hectares, while arable land covered 624.000 hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows had decreased to less than 113 million hectares, while arable land represented approximately 567.000 hectares and permanent crops covered 5.000 hectares. Meanwhile, in 1961, the cereals market in Mongolia utilized 311.000 hectares of land and yielded little over 124.000 metric tons annually. Finally, in 2014, the country devoted 315.000 hectares of land to cereals production and yielded almost 520.000 metric tons.