Sustainable Fodder Strategies to Rescue Mongolia’s Livestock and Steppe Ecosystem

Mongolia’s once-vast and fertile steppe grasslands are nearing ecological collapse. Over 70% of this iconic ecosystem has been degraded by decades of overgrazing, climate change, mining, and unsustainable land use. At the core of this crisis is Mongolia’s livestock sector, a vital source of food security, employment, and cultural identity. Yet, the traditional herding practices that sustain it are now proving harmful. Institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry (MOFALI), and international research collaborators are ringing alarm bells, urging a pivot toward sustainable fodder management and livestock modernization to preserve both the environment and Mongolia’s pastoral heritage.

The country’s livestock population has soared from 25.9 million in the 1990s to nearly 71 million by 2019. However, this boom has been driven more by headcount than by productivity. Herders continue to treat animals as a form of savings rather than economic assets to be optimized. This results in overstocked pastures, soil erosion, and even rodent infestations. Meat quality has declined due to poor nutrition and inadequate veterinary care, and about 90% of the meat produced is sold as unprocessed carcasses through open-air markets, often lacking refrigeration. Government subsidies such as free hay offer little incentive for herders to adopt modern feeding or breeding practices.

Overburdened Pastures and a Fragmented Policy Landscape

Despite Mongolia’s Vision 2050 policy goals, which call for a transition from livestock quantity to quality, progress has been stymied by policy and institutional fragmentation. Six ministries govern different aspects of land, water, and agriculture, creating overlapping mandates and policy gaps. MOFALI is tasked with managing livestock and fodder production, while water resources, essential for fodder cultivation, fall under the Ministry of Environment and Climate. This misalignment hampers cohesive strategy implementation. Additionally, financial resources remain limited. Although several livestock-related policies exist, ranging from taxes to pasture use fees and fodder reserves, their impact is blunted by low product prices, insufficient credit, and inefficient value chains.

At the pasture level, the picture is bleak. In 2018, Mongolia’s pasture carrying capacity was estimated at 86 million stock equivalent units (SEU), but the actual number was closer to 119 million SEU. Some regions are alarmingly overstocked; in Ulaanbaatar, pasture pressure exceeds 2,600% of capacity. In response to declining pasture quality, many herders have shifted to goat husbandry, driven by the lucrative global cashmere market. Goats, while adaptable, cause even more damage by consuming a wider range of vegetation, including shrubs and young saplings, further accelerating land degradation.

Fodder: The Critical Missing Link

Fodder production has not kept pace with livestock growth. In 1990, Mongolia produced 616,900 tons of fodder, enough to meet 29% of animal needs and 76% of breeding female requirements. But by 2019, this figure had increased by only 11.7%, even as livestock numbers more than doubled. Today, fodder meets only 15% of total livestock needs. Government programs such as the 2018 National Program for the Support of Intensive Livestock Farming aimed to increase cultivated fodder areas and improve green and concentrated feed availability. Yet, much remains to be done.

The domestic feed industry is underdeveloped. In 2019, Mongolia had only 57 operating feed and flour mills, many of them small, undercapitalized, and technologically outdated. They operate at just 30% capacity. Most rely on domestic raw materials, though some imports, such as soybean paste and amino acids, help bridge the gap. Financial limitations, poor market linkages, and competition from cheap foreign feed further hinder their viability. Credit for agriculture, once a sizable share of lending portfolios, has declined to near invisibility in recent years.

Science, Innovation, and the Road to Resilience

Scientific interventions led by ADB and MOFALI show that significant yield improvements are possible with better practices. Field trials have demonstrated that applying mineral fertilizers, specifically nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, can increase fodder yields by 40% to 55%. Small-scale irrigation, particularly useful in Mongolia’s arid and semiarid zones, further enhances results. Agrotechnology has been embraced by some modern farms like Gatsuurt and Gazar Agro, which are growing mixed forages, producing compound feeds, and storing haylage.

Trials show strong yields for peas, oats, rye, and mixed crops such as oat-pea and barley-pea under optimal conditions. For perennials, brome grass, alfalfa, and wheatgrass mixtures outperform others, especially under irrigation. Legumes such as Medicago sativa and Melilotus dentatus deliver high protein content, a vital factor for improving animal health and meat quality. Nonetheless, Mongolia’s 85 animal feed standards remain too complex and inaccessible for herders. To remedy this, ADB-supported handbooks offer simpler, more practical guidance on hay preparation, fodder cultivation, and handmade feed using local flora.

Paving the Path to Sustainable Livestock and Economic Growth

Reforming the sector requires more than technical fixes; it needs deep policy change and robust investment. Existing policies that reward herd size must be replaced with those that incentivize productivity and ecological stewardship. For example, access to government hay reserves could be tied to efforts in pasture rehabilitation. Inter-agency coordination must improve, particularly on land and water use policies. The government’s initiatives, such as the White Gold National Campaign and the Wealthy Herder Program, are early steps in this direction.

To stimulate innovation and scale, ADB recommends creating agricultural economic development zones. These zones would act as hubs for fodder production, particularly alfalfa and oats, and encourage private investment through tax incentives, grants, and infrastructure development. Critical to success will be storage facilities, irrigation systems, and roads. New legal frameworks, like the Public–Private Partnership Law enacted in December 2023, are expected to pave the way for increased investor participation.

Ultimately, Mongolia’s future hinges on its ability to harmonize ecological preservation with economic modernization. With targeted reforms, investment, and coordination, the country can not only restore its precious grasslands but also build a more resilient, competitive, and sustainable livestock industry.