Agriculture in Mongolia

Source: mytripblog.org
Mongolian Herders

Agriculture is one of Mongolia's strongest and primary industries. In fact, almost half of the population is engaged in the agricultural industry. With a livestock population of 30 million, people are outnumbered ten-to-one. Mongolia's harsh climate makes traditional cultivation impossible. In fact, only 1% of Mongolia is cultivable. This means that livestock is the primary form of agriculture. Most of the livestock consists of: sheep, yak, goats, cattle, camels and horses. Aside from the livestock, the only main crops that can be grown in Mongolia's rough environment consist of: wheat, barley, potato, cabbage and carrots.

Source: ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency)
Mongolia's harsh climate makes farming difficult

As mentioned before, Mongolia's harsh climate makes farming difficult and nearly impossible. Being an ex-Soviet satellite country, Mongolia's wells and watering holes, once maintained collectively were left to deteriorate. The lack of pasture management, combined with summer droughts and dzuds (slow winters), have prevented herders from stocking enough fodder for the winter months. Poor management skills, inadequate input systems and low quality seeds have contributed to an 80 per cent fall in overall productivity and, while wheat yields have begun to recover, they remain low. With a lack of markets and proper food storage techniques, much of Mongolia is facing concerns about food safety. Regardless, Mongolia is still ranked highly for it's agricultural land. 

"New Agriculturist." : Country Profile. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. 

Human Development

What is Human Development? 

More specifically, what is the study of human development compared among individual countries? To answer this question we must examine the measures of what human development attempts to analyze. The Human Development Index seeks to quantify the level of life expectancy, education, and income equality based on interal factors within the country. The human development index was introduced as an alternative measure to the analysis of a countries GDP. The human development index accounts for human well-being as opposed to purely economic factors. 
"Human Development Reports." The Human Development Index – What It Is and What It Is Not. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

People First : Human Development Reports

Mongolia is ranked 103 on the Human Development Index with an index of 0.698, that has had a steady increase since the 1980s possibly due to modernization and globalization. Largely an agrarian society, many Mongolians have had steady employment due to the farming industry, and have an average life expectancy of 67.5 years.

Mongolia's Human Development in comparison to other countries
Source: Human Development Reports

What is of interest on the Human Development Index are the numbers concerning education, gender equality and CO2 emissions:

Source: China daily

Expected schooling for Mongolians is ranked at 15 years, yet the average amount of school is 8 years, which may be due to the agrarian society. Mongolians are required for farming as opposed to schooling, and with labor being confined to agriculture there is not much need for education.

 

Source: http://preventionaction.org/

The same anomaly can be observed in gender equality, which is surprisingly equal with a ranking of 0.32, which may also be due to the agrarian lifestyle. There tends to be a pattern of gender inequality in developing countries, which Mongolia is part of, yet little gender inequality exist at all. In fact, there are even more women who possess higher degrees of education 

in comparison to men.







Carbon Emissions levels also showed some interest. Since Mongolia is largely an agrarian society, one would expect the carbon emission levels to be low, but Mongolia also borders China, the most polluted and greenhouse gas producing country in the world. This pollution likely spreads north to Mongolia where it affects the population and introduces high levels of smog. 

Source: http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/

Population Income Statistics of Mongolia

Facts from the World Bank concerning Mongolia.

Mongolia is a developing East Asian and Pacific country. The population has a steady birth rate of 20.7 births/1,000 population and a death rate of 6.01 deaths/1,000 population. As of 2013, the population was 2.839 million and continues to significantly grow. 

Mongolia's GDP is equal to $11.52 billion per year. Most Mongolians earn an income that would be classified as lower middle class. According to predictions, Mongolia's GDP is expected to remain at a constant level without any increase or decrease.
In terms of poverty levels, 27.4% of the population is below the poverty line.

Poverty Rates
Source: worldbank.org

In relation to education, primary school enrollment has a level of 117% percent. 




Misc. Statistics:
C02 Emissions (metric tons per capita): 4.2
Rural population water access: 61%
Life expectancy: 61
Therefore, Mongolia can be considered one of the more prosperous developing countries.

Mongolia's economic development in comparison to the rest of developing Asia
Source: Finance for Australian Exporters