Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The National Farmers Conference took place on April 10. This year’s conference is special for coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the farming sector having become a science-based independent sector.

Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Ch.Ulaan, Deputy Minister J.Saule as well as the governing bodies of 21 aimags, experts and farmers attended the conference to discuss objectives and measures to be taken for 2019, technical renewal, preparation process and advice for spring planting, government support as well as the sector’s future development.

In 2019, with the financing of MNT 1.2 billion from the state budget, a nursery of fruits and berries will be built in Khovd aimag, while irrigation equipment and seedlings will be provided to Bulgan aimag to increase cultivation for fruits and vegetables. With the state budget financing of MNT 171 million, measures to supply seedlings of fruits and berries that are rarely cultivated, such as apples, plums, cherries, currants and blueberries, are also to be taken.

With the planned harvest of 487.2 thousand tons of wheat, 165.8 thousand tons of potatoes and 107.2 thousand tons of vegetables, the demands for wheat and potatoes will be fully provided, while 60 percent of the demand for vegetable will be met this year from domestic market.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and China, a greenhouse farm with 50 hectares of land will be established in Ulaanbaatar.

In aims of increasing farming production, improving its quality, providing the citizens’ food demand and increasing the raw material supply to factories, bills on varieties of crops and cultivated plants as well as crop insurance will be submitted in 2019.

755 equipment of 25 types were provided in the frameworks of the project on the technical renewal of farming, which is being implemented in partnership with DBM Leasing LLC of Development Bank of Mongolia with financing from Vnesheconombank of Russia and as it gave a significant contribution to the development of intensive agriculture, officials are working to continue the project.

With the soft loan of EUR 3.2 million from the Government of Poland in the frameworks of the project on the development of vegetable production and value-added system, equipment to be used for potatoes and vegetables will be provided.

With the soft loan of USD 7.6 million from the Government of China in the frameworks of the project on supporting agricultural production, various tools and equipment as well as 180 tractors will be provided, which will increase the current technical capacity by 10 percent. Furthermore, with the financing of USD 16.9 million in the frameworks of the aforementioned project, 336 irrigation equipment sets will be provided to farmers, which will irrigate 9,000 hectares of crops, 770 hectares of potatoes and vegetables and 150 hectares of fruits and berries.

In the frameworks of the Government programme on fruits and berries, with the state budget financing of MNT 785.6 million, a total of 211,100 seedlings of sea buckthorn, current, apple and plums were given to over 150 citizens and entities as a loan, increasing the cultivation area for fruits by 166 hectares.

As per the Government Decision No.324 in 2018, the electricity tariff for greenhouses now receive discount between November 1 - May 1 to develop winter greenhouse farming.

Studies on establishing cluster, creating a value-added system for sea buckthorn, introducing the international standard for quality and safety in the food industry as well as a comparative research on the biochemical ingredients and healing of sea buckthorn and its products, and the nutritional properties are being conducted.