In 2005 Ken Goodson began a new assignment as Peace Corps Country Director in Mongolia following a similar posting in Peru.  There, high in the Andes, he had seen a simple box of seeds sent to a Peace Corps volunteer by a school in North Carolina grow into a seed program with over 160 school and community gardens serving a number of isolated villages.  Having seen the impact of these gardens on the nutrition, world-awareness, and self esteem of the natives of the Altiplano, he recognized the potential for similar seed programs in his new country.  Early in his term in Mongolia, he put Peace Corps Volunteer Vita Trujillo in contact with Seed Programs International (SPI), the source of the seeds used in the programs in Peru, and a new partnership was born.

The GER Initiative in Mongolia

Vita Trujillo was an Economic Development Volunteer with the Growing Entrepreneurship Rapidly (GER) Initiative office in Darkhan, Mongolia.  Funded by USAID and USDA and implemented by CHF International, the GER initiative seeks to improve the life of low and moderate income people who live in communities of traditional Mongolian yurts on the outskirts of major cities.  The program encourages development of small businesses and entrepreneurship through microfranchising, small loan facilitation, business training, and employment matching services.

A pilot project of 300 seed packets in 2005 acquainted Initiative participants, including youth garden clubs, school children, community gardeners, greenhouse growers, and local agriculture experts with the quality of SPI’s seeds and training materials.  From this experience, the initiative ordered 3,300 packets of seed in 2006. 

Members of the ‘Arvin Urgats’ (Abundant Harvest) Cooperative and GER Staff celebrate a successful project.

Seed from the 2006 shipment was sold by GERto individual families, but also to market growers serving the local market.  Many of the vegetables were not found in these markets, but the growers capitalized on the opportunity, marketing these “Uncommon Vegetables” for a premium price.  Agricultural advisors trained the growers in vegetable growing, pest control, and storage.  Team members provided leadership in marketing the Uncommon Vegetables and developed marketing linkages local restaurants, supermarkets, and the foreign community.  Classes on cooking and preserving these vegetables were provided to further promote their use.

“We asked farmers regarding the quality of the seeds and their response was overwhelmingly positive. The germination rate of SEED Program’s seeds was high in comparison with the seeds available locally. About 50% of the farmers produced seeds from this year’s crops and the other half said they would like to purchase SEED Program seeds again next year.”  –Vita Trujillo, Peace Corps, Mongolia

The market growers in the GER project reported that their income increased from $3,878 in 2005 to $7,042 in 2006, an increase of 82%.  In addition, some vegetables were stored or preserved for sale during the winter , so final returns were expected to increase.  They attributed their success to the quality of the seeds, the novelty of the Uncommon Vegetables, and the agricultural, business management, and marketing support provided by the GER team.  Vita Trujillo reported,

“Overall, the project is making a positive impact on the farmer community as well as the Mongolian consumers, who are becoming more interested in eating healthier food. Many farmers expressed their appreciation for the SEED Programs Inc. seeds and were pleased with the vegetable yields. Our farmers participated in several local trade fairs as well as in the large annual trade fair in Ulaanbaatar, the capitol of Mongolia. At the Ulaanbaatar trade fair, national Mongolian television interviewed our farmers because they stood out with the variety of vegetables they had for sale. During the interview, the farmers mentioned several health benefits of adding vegetables to the traditional Mongolian diet of meat, flour and dairy products. After the interview was aired on national television, countryside Mongolians traveled to the capitol to purchase our farmers vegetables.”

In 2007 the program was expanded to distribution through 6 GER branch offices.  Sales of seeds tripled, with 346 Mongolian growers purchasing 6,814 packets of seeds.  Again a majority of the growers purchased seed for family consumption, but those in the market gardening program increased yields and income rose over 250% to 18,072.  Cady Sinnwell, the new Peace Corps volunteer with the project reported:

“The project is making an overwhelmingly positive impact… Our farmers continue to develop their skills as vegetable farmers and the quality seeds provided by SEED Programs Inc. are what make this possible.”

The Mongolia GER Initiative provides a model for sustainable development programs in many regions of the world.  Growers purchase their own seeds, learn to grow, preserve, and market their own produce, and generate enough profit to purchase additional seeds and inputs for the following year.  As production expands in an area, demand may increase enough to encourage local sources of good quality seed and other agricultural supplies.  Expansion of production may also stimulate growth of the local economy through jobs, sales of related products, and turnover of income within the community.  The key component is providing the business training and financial support to get the program started.