Mongolia an organic goldmine

01-10-2008 | Marie Taylor

Mongolia's wool industry holds many opportunities for New Zealand agribusiness, says Nigel Hales.

Nigel, the group general manager of Cavalier Corporation's Hawke's Bay and Canterbury Woolscourers, is just back from three weeks working in Mongolia.

He was invited to Mongolia to work with an aid programme run by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation, GTZ, and a German agricultural development company IAKAGRAR Consulting.

"My mission there was to teach the locals scouring technology, wool collection methods and how to recover wool grease," he says.

He has previously worked in Central Asia in the wool industry, including four years in Kazakstan, and speaks some Russian.

Nigel says there are plenty of opportunities which won't conflict with those of NZ crossbred woolgrowers.

Mongolia has 15 million sheep, and wool is sold to China at 40¢/kg greasy.

"While the wool industry was functional, by our standards it was very basic and open to improvement."

Most of the sheep industry is based around a nomadic system, and breeding systems are minimal.

Nigel says there may be opportunities to supply rams or semen for much needed improved genetics.

"Merino is a good example. I believe that there is a unique ground floor opportunity to set up an elite ram flock to supply farmers with new rams. The Merino breed is already there and has proven it can withstand the harsh winter conditions in Mongolia."

Animal health products were few and far between, so there could be opportunities there, he says.

Cropping had been extensive in the former Soviet times, but now there was none for stock food. This industry could be reinstated.

"All sheep I saw had been shorn with blades. The sheep's feet are tied and the herder just clips away, taking about 15 to 20 minutes a sheep to shear it. There is an opportunity to supply petrol-powered shearing machines and hand pieces."

And he says there's a great opportunity to supply training in farming practices and management techniques such as shearing and breeding.

"I believe all the wool I saw in Mongolia would qualify as being organic. No fertiliser was used, nor any animal health products."

He suggested the cottage industries and felters he visited might look at ways to gain organic status in order to access European and United States markets. They use mainly natural dyes and natural moth-proofing methods based on locally grown plants.

During the three week trip he gave Powerpoint presentations on the science of wool and scouring to small co-operatives of workers.

Many of the presentations were in gurs, which are felted houses with a low roof. Gurs are made from about 10 large strips of felt, dried in the sun, and they last about 20 years.

Gur felts aren't scoured, and are chemical-free. Each of the felts making up the gur is about 2m wide and 6m long.

When a young farming couple get married, it's the custom for them to be given a gur. And even in towns, some people live in gurs, Nigel says.

In a gur there's no running water or toilet facilities, but cooking takes place in the middle of the gur. Many gurs now have solar panels, sky dishes and TV, as well as cellphones.

Mongolia is a very computer literate country, but hampered by limited capital for development, Nigel says.

On his trip he was accompanied by local wool industry experts, one of whom had trained in Germany and had a double science degree and a PhD in wool dying and bleaching technology.

"On a technical level the understanding about wool is very high."

The average herder's flock had about 250 sheep, with the largest he saw at 1000.

Many of the sheep are very coarse and hairy, the wool measuring around 35 microns. It yields around 50% and washes pure white.

Typical flocks are made up of half sheep and half cashmere goats, with yak, camels and horses also farmed. The country produces more in value from cashmere fibre than wool.

Nigel was fascinated by the sheep, as he has a share in a farm at Wimbledon in Southern Hawke's Bay, where he breeds a range of interesting sheep including those from Karakul, (the oldest breed of sheep), Gotland, Pitt and Arapawa Islands.

Sheep sold in the capital Ulaan Baatar's bazaar made from US$80-$120.

He saw a lot of countryside, describing the landscape as steep country, with rolling hills. Farming was fence-free, except for fences to keep horses by the gurs.

In the Zavkhan province the roads were mostly just tracks across the countryside, and often the drivers followed power poles to the next settlement as there were no roadsigns.

He saw areas of pasture saved for winter grazing, and in the north, saw where the land had been cropped in the Soviet era. Rusting combines were parked up outside in an area where 80 used to work.

The growing season is very short, but no stock is housed.

And there's not much infrastructure to deal with wool. Often wool is simply stored outdoors and on the ground. At the scour, the wool is dumped outside on the ground, and picked up by hand, and loaded into the scour by hand.

When it comes to transporting wool, trucks are loaded to the gunwales, and then the wool covered over, so it looked like one large bale.

Most of their wool is sold into the Chinese market. "Chinese buyers are very active in Mongolia, and they are potentially competing into the same markets as us."

One particular visit Nigel made to a felting co-operative had a big impact on him. North of the capital, the business employed 15 people to felt slippers.

The felting co-operative consisted of nine different groups which sold their products collectively. Seven were felters and two were hand-knitters making high quality shawls.

The manager spoke perfect English, and the co-operative was linked to a Norwegian Lutheran mission, selling slippers into Norway and other Scandinavian countries. It also had a retail outlet in Ulaan Baatar.

Everything at the co-operative was done by hand, and they produced felt boots at a rate of six a day each.

This co-operative really needs some help, as the concept of their business is excellent, he says. Nigel has offered ongoing support to this group. He wants to collect surplus spinning wheels or hand cards, and send a container load of gear to them.

"NZ is a generous nation and I am sure farmers' wives and those working in cottage industries here can relate to the plight of this group."

• Any NZ guilds which are keen to establish a relationship and have an interest in the project at the co-operative can call him on (06) 834 1421.
  

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