Agricultural extension for livestock herders

Mongolia captures the imagination as the home of the legendary Chinggis Khan; a land of rolling steppes and roaming nomads.

However, life in Mongolia can be challenging, particularly for the country’s 160,000 herder households that depend on rangeland-based livestock husbandry for their income in a climate that is both extreme and unforgiving.

UQ International Development is partnering with UQ’s Centre for Communication and Social Change and the Association for Sustainable Rural Development (a Mongolian agriculture-focussed NGO) to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of herders in rural Mongolia.

The team use highly participatory extension approaches that seek to understand the factors impacting decision-making in rural households before introducing new technology to improve sustainable livestock production.

The Green Gold Project is in its fourth phase and is comprised of four components of which our team is responsible for delivering the third: the delivery of agricultural extension services to provide practicable knowledge for herders.

Working across seven of Mongolia’s remote western and central provinces, the International Development team is engaging with Pasture User Groups, national universities and relevant government departments at the central and local level to build capacities for fostering demand-driven extension services. Project methodology applies interactive and participatory approaches, working to facilitate herders’ access to information, services, technologies and learning and exchange opportunities.

Duration: December 2013–December 2014
Funding source: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation