Mongolia : Preparing the Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Development Project

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Livestock

The Government of Mongolia, during the country programming mission held in Ulaanbaatar in April 2018, requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide lending support to prepare the Climate-Resilient Livestock Sector Development Project. The ensuing loan is included in ADB's country operations business plan for Mongolia for 2020 and the proposed transaction technical assistance (TA) is included in ADB's nonlending pipeline for 2019.

The livestock subsector remains a key driver of agricultural output in Mongolia, contributing 84.2% of total agricultural output and employing nearly a third of Mongolia's economically active population. Despite the significant importance of the livestock subsector, several constraints and risks threaten the sustainable development of the sector as well as its ability to access new export markets that are vital for lifting rural populations out of poverty. Lack of concerted and coordinated policy efforts have resulted in unsustainable livestock numbers and significant rangeland degradation. Poor livestock, water and pasture management is contributing to the problem where 70.0% of Mongolia's pastureland is now degraded. Additionally, various challenges throughout the meat and dairy value chain including frequent disease outbreaks, poor veterinary and breeding services, low quality of meat due to limited use of appropriate feed and breeding practices, and limited linkages between herder groups and competitive markets has constrained the export potential of Mongolia's livestock sector.

The project aims to improve the efficiency and sustainability of climate-resilient livestock production systems by encouraging policy-level changes, improving livestock, pasture, and water management, and strengthening local meat and dairy value chains. The project will: (i) provide a policy-based loan to enhance the policy, institutional, legal, regulatory, and organizational arrangements for improved livestock and pasture management as well as improved quality of products across the meat and dairy value chains; (ii) establish/strengthen herder cooperatives for improved livestock, pasture and water management, and upgrade, rehabilitate and establish water points to increase climate resilience of herder cooperatives; and (iii) strengthen meat and dairy value chains by facilitating linkages between herder cooperative and meat processors and exporters, supporting relevant technology-enabled agriculture extension services, and improving veterinary and breeding services at the soum level.