Ekonomicheskie peremeny v mongol’skom skotovodstve v period transformatsii

Abstract

Mongolia is one of the countries where mobile livestock keeping continues to play a prominent role. Despite difficult conditions it still is the most important source of income for the majority in rural areas. Not only does it feed the livestock keepers and many of their urban- based relatives, but it also provides an adequate living for most of them through the sale of animals and animal products. Whether the expansion of mobile livestock keeping that took place after the political changes in 1990 is just a temporary phenomenon, or this widespread use of natural pastures is here to stay, will largely depend on the rural development policies of future governments. This article attempts to define what background factors have led to the recent developments in mobile livestock keeping in Mongolia, what structural changes and problems have emerged in management practices and particularly in stock movement patterns, and what wealth differentiation processes have occurred in the pastoral society. Furthermore, the changes in world market integration of Mongolian livestock products during the socialist and post-socialist period will be discussed.