CROP AND FOOD SUPPLY SITUATION IN MONGOLIA - 4 NOVEMBER 1996
No hay miniatura disponible
Fecha
Autores
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
Descripción
An FAO Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited Mongolia from 7 to 18 October to review the outcome of the 1996 grain harvest and estimate national import and food aid requirements for the marketing year ending September 1997. The evaluation is based on discussions with Government, UN and other international development agencies and crop assessment visits to the main producing areas, including Selenge, Tov and Darkhan in the Central Agricultural Region. This year, extensive and seri ous steppe and forest fires throughout the country caused widespread damage to forests and winter pastures. However, although the fires resulted in livestock losses, which may exacerbate current economic difficulties at household level, they did not affect output. Nonetheless, cereal production declined for the fifth consecutive year as a consequence of reduced rainfall at the beginning of the season and continuing problems in the sector, brought on by economic transition and market reforms. Mor e specifically, in the Central Agricultural Region, which accounts for some 80 percent of national crop production, 1996 was characterized by poor fallow preparation, low quality- high quantity seed use, delays in germination, poor weed control, no fertilizer use, less than average rainfall at critical stages in the crop cycle and a protracted harvest, made worse by old machinery and a shortage of spare parts. Potato and fodder production exhibit similar characteristics. Although, livestock prod uction, on the whole, remains comparatively stable, access to livestock products has been adversely affected by fragmentation in the sector and the break-up of state marketing channels.