28 November 2016, Rome - Mongolia and FAO will work more closely together to promote international partnerships and exchanges that support sustainable agriculture in the East Asian country, the UN agency said today.
A new agreement, signed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Mongolia's agriculture minister Purev Sergelen today, will strengthen the partnership between FAO and Mongolia on South-South and Triangular Cooperation -- a form of development partnership that boosts countries' agricultural capacity by linking their policy makers and producers with experts and technologies from around the world. This includes other emerging economies that have built special expertise in specific agricultural sectors.
FAO will support Mongolia in working with a wider array of global partners, such as international organizations, research institutions, governments and the private sector, to make Mongolia's food production more sustainable, strengthen its agribusiness and ensure lasting food security.
By bringing innovative approaches and tools to the country, these knowledge exchanges will benefit Mongolia's National Livestock Programme and other high priority national agricultural development programmes, along with policies that aim to improve farmers' incomes and living standards.
Building on previous success
The new agreement builds on two previous successful South-South exchanges between China and Mongolia that FAO helped establish between 2010 and 2016.
In the last two years alone, some 775 producers, traders and policy makers across Mongolia received in-country training from Chinese experts, and more than 20 high-level Mongolian officials and experts participated in study tours to China, where they visited agricultural institutions, relevant farms and enterprises.
These multi-year exchange projects improved animal breeding, beekeeping, crop production and agribusiness, and introduced new technologies to the Mongolian agriculture sector - a sector that builds strongly on animal husbandry, potato farming and intensive vegetable farming.
Mongolian farmers also benefited from new varieties of fodder crops and improved cultivation technologies, which offer livestock keepers more options to keep their animals strong and healthy and will make animal husbandry overall more resilient against climate change.
In the area of crop farming, new vegetable and fruit varieties, along with effective greenhouse technologies, resulted in increased yields.
Local agricultural companies also expanded marketing and sale channels thanks to South-South exchanges and trade between China and Mongolia.