Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has started its support to Mongolia with Humanitarian Aid project during 1999/2000 heavy dzud which was followed up by long-term development cooperation program through Green Gold Animal Health Project with the aim to contribute to improved livelihood of herder households through sustainable rangeland management, better marketing and a conducive legal and policy environment.

SDC had the chance to meet with a wonderful young man, his name is Battuguldur and he is 21 years old. He started to share with me a wonderful story from being child to become a professional “Football maker”. He lives with his sister and her four children after a long time apart. When his mother was alive, she took him to an orphanage because she could not afford to raise two children.

The MoU enables the Bank of Mongolia to benefit from the Programme for Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Building for Central Banks (BCC), which is implemented by SECO.

The Swiss Cooperation in Mongolia joined hands through the Green Gold Animal Health Project with Mongolian partners, Ministries, government implementing organizations, herders, herders’ organizations and private sector stakeholders to contribute to responsible and sustainable management of Mongolian rangelands-“Green Gold” of Mongolia. After 17 years of journey of cooperation and collective effort, Swiss Cooperation in Mongolia is very pleased to share the main results and experiences of the Green Gold Animal Health Project. This time, we would like to present the results, lesson learned and experiences on the journey to develop and strengthen the national rangeland health monitoring and assessment system: “Mongolia is enabled to make a sound diagnosis of the national rangeland health and resilient carrying capacity”.

The agriculture sector is of great importance to the economy of Mongolia, and its share of national GDP of the country exceeds 12% as of 2020. In particular, the livestock and animal husbandry sector produces more than 80% of gross agricultural production and is the only source of income for more than 34% of all households.

Switzerland is helping Mongolia in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In view of the health situation in Mongolia, and in response to the request for assistance made by the Government of Mongolia, the Swiss Humanitarian Aid has decided to support this country in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The HU" expressed to support the “Responsible Nomads” standard for sustainable nomadic livestock production and its e traceability system. The system was developed with the support from Green Gold and Animal Health Project of the Swiss Cooperation in Mongolia and Ministry of Food Agriculture and Light Industry and managed by the National Federation of PUGs of Herders.

NFPUG organized the training to develop 2019 Pastureland photo monitoring maps and integrate the results into a unified system. The training will allow participants to process 2019 Pasture Photomonitoring images in Sample Point software and identify pasture plants at the farm group level. The training was provided on how to enter digital data into the ALAMGAC Web system. Herders uploaded the 2019 news on the agency's server through the Web system. Through this training, the quality of photo monitor data processing was improved, and the ability to evaluate and report the results using pastureland change models was acquired.

Collective Code of Practices for Sustainable Nomadic Livestock Production has been approved as a National Standard in Mongolia

The Mongolian national federation of pasture user groups organized an online training on "Importance of livestock tax in livestock breeding and pasture management".

A total of 15 herder households in Tusgalt, Naran, Bumbat, and Bayankhairkhan PUG's in Chuluut soum, Arkhangai aimag, implemented a small grow green fodder on winter camp manure with the support of the PHC project. Within the project framework, herders planted green fodder on a total area of 2.1 hectares, and about 6 tons of hay was prepared. A total investment of 1 million MNT was required to implement the project, which was implemented jointly by the GGAHP project and herders.

In June-October 2020, a project to plant fodder in manure was implemented in the Pasture Users section of Mukhar Elged, Erdene-Uul bagh, Jargalant soum, Arkhangai aimag. As part of the project, herders from the PUgs rehabilitated the fences around the winter camp area, protected them from livestock, and planted green fodder by hand-plowing and spraying in the manure area winter camp. A total of 13 households planted about 1.9 hectares of green fodder and prepared about 7.5 tons of hay, which required a total investment of 1 million MNT to implement the project funded by the GGAHP.

A total of 12 herder households in Bayangol PUG, Undur-Ulaan soum, Arkhangai aimag planted green fodder in the manure yard near the winter and spring camps. A total of 2.5 hectares of fodder was planted, and a total of 8 tons of green hay was harvested. A total of 1 million MNT was required to implement the project funded by the GGAHP project and herders.