Before the crisis:
Two years ago, the 40-year-old herder earned 1 million tugrug (US$690), which was enough income to provide food and clothes for his wife and four children.

How has life changed since then?
Selling raw livestock materials to people or organizations has become very difficult. Zagd’s income has been decreased by four times, forcing him to live on borrowed money. An estimated 60 percent of Mongolian herders take out loan, according to research conducted in 2008. But some herdsmen can’t afford pay back loans because of low livestock prices.

“Money has been a really rare good. Just now I have no cash…That’s why I have come to the soum center (small town) to take a loan,” he said. But loans are sometimes difficult to acquire if a household doesn’t have enough livestock assets. “There is a special condition loan called the ‘Herdsmen Loan’, but we are discriminated by our number of cattle.”

What’s most difficult about life during a financial crisis?
While food costs increase daily, the price of the livestock raw material that Zagd sells continues to fall. He can no longer afford to buy flour, rice or sugar. “Currently, our main food is meat with a little flour,” he said. “To save flour we make flour paste for dinner.”

How can he get by in the future?
The uncertainty of raising animals for income has become difficult. Aside from taking out loans to purchase necessities, Zagd said another option may be to plant vegetables like potatoes. “I think that it’s better to plant vegetables. Unfortunately, the potato seeds distributed to our soum have already run out.”