FINAL REPORT

16.2.3 Legal Situation in Land Rights and Water Distribution
Land titles and fees
33 farmers involved in the survey hold official land titles for crop and hay fields and the
remaining two answered that they cultivated fields of others who held official titles. The land
fee for one hectare is 50,000 MNT per year. It is significantly high, compared with other
sums. The main reasons are that Jargalant sum is classified as atown and land resources are
limited. If households from Jargalant sum cultivate fields in other sums they also have to pay
higher fees than the native households, e.g. 18.000MNT/hain Buyant and Khovd sum.
Need for expansion
22 farmers or 62.9% responded that they are interested in expanding their farmland. Those
interested in enlarging their farmland wished to have between 0.5 ha and 5 ha additional. They
expressed theircapabilities and the availability of work force. 32
Constraints and Conflicts
Concerning water availability, nine households (26%) answered that they faced problems
accessing sufficient irrigation water and 26 (74%) had sufficient access to water. These results
show that there are less difficulties concerning water availability in Jargalant. The farmers
who plant in their khashaas have no irrigation systems. They collect rain water and transport
water from wells and the Buyant River to their fields. Other farmers have built channels and
ditches from the Buyant River. During the survey it appeared that irrigation is well upstream
at Ikh golin ar and at the upper part of Durviin gazar but water is less available at the lower
partofDurviin gazar. Need for irrigation water is high in July, when water is less available. In
other months there is enough water.
The households mentioned several disadvantages in receiving water via the existing channels
and ditches: Weed seeds are spreading and much water is absorbed by the soil or evaporates
before reaching the farmland. Moreover, the running irrigation water makes the soil harder
thus there is a need to soften the soil regularly which demands additional labour and inputs.
The solution to these problems could be to use tubes instead of channels and installing proper
irrigation techniques such as drip irrigation.
The survey involved farmers mentioned the following additional constraints to crop farming:
• lack of land
32 The respondent who was interested in having additional 5 ha was an agronomist with two generations
experience. He had a greenhouse and machinery in a good condition.
146