[Director Oh Myeong-gyu’s Mongolia Report] Harvesting Rice on Mongolian Soil for the First Time in More Than 40 Years

Mongolia also eats rice

Meat is Mongolia’s staple food. It has only been about 50 years since people began eating rice, but Mongolia is a country that imports 100% of a large amount of rice relative to its population from abroad. Mongolia has a vast territory about 15 times the size of the Republic of Korea. However, its arable land is less than 1%. Why did people suddenly start eating rice? I do not know exactly either, but many Mongolians attend school in Korea or visit Korea for work. There is a saying that about 10% of Mongolia’s population has been to Korea. Even now, it is said that more than 60,000 Mongolians live in Korea. So when Koreans visiting Mongolia have trouble because they cannot communicate, a Mongolian often appears and helps them in Korean. When I first took office as director of the Mongolia Center, I met the vice minister of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry. On the day we first met, I was asked to help introduce Korea’s rice cultivation technology to Mongolia.
 

Rice cultivation in Mongolia is not easy, and although several countries tried for more than 40 years, they could not harvest

In Mongolia’s summer, daytime temperatures exceed 30℃ in some regions. But at night it becomes very cool, around 15℃. It is not an easy place for rice to survive. In addition, annual precipitation is around 300mm, far short of the amount of water needed for rice. And Japan, China, Vietnam, Mongolian agricultural research institutes, universities, and pioneering farmers tried for more than 40 years, but did not reach the harvesting stage. However, I could not ignore the request of the vice minister of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, Mongolia’s recipient organization. So, with the thought that I should try once before saying it was difficult, I investigated weather conditions across Mongolia, visited areas where attempts had failed, and met researchers. However, I could not obtain much information. So after first identifying areas where meteorological data, soil analysis data, and water supply were available, we carried out the first rice transplanting in 2024. But within 2 weeks after transplanting, all the rice plants dried up. I realized that it was indeed a difficult task. But why did all the rice plants dry up? I was curious, and it also did not seem right to give up so easily.
 

K-agriculture’s reckless challenge, sowing rice seeds while snow falls on distant mountains

In 2025, we began by analyzing the causes of the previous year’s failure. First, the cultivation area where we failed was not the place where the KOPIA Mongolia Center had conducted its soil survey. After we had raised the seedlings well and moved them to the test site for transplanting, the head of the local institution suddenly said the place where the soil survey had been done could not be used for trial cultivation. When we analyzed soil samples after transplanting the rice, the soil acidity showed a high pH/acidity value to the extent that nutrients could not be absorbed.
Second, accessibility was a problem. It was a remote place among remote places, where it was difficult for us to go even twice, so there was no time to resolve problems that arose. Therefore, in 2025, we conducted trial cultivation in the Bulgan soum area of Khovd Province. This was also remote, but it was a place accessible by public transportation. The soil acidity was not bad either. Carrying rice seeds, we disinfected the seeds in the bathroom of a shabby hotel in Bulgan soum, germinated them, and then sowed them in seedling trays. White snow was falling on the distant mountains. That year, although the quantity was not large and the grain quality was not high, we were finally able to succeed through to the final harvest stage.

 K-agriculture, who are you?

At some point, I saw an agricultural news article. I understand it was news from Africa, and the article said that a senior official related to African agriculture said Korea seemed to have ‘a god of agriculture living there’. It seems that Korean agricultural scientists are doing many things in Africa as well. In Mongolia, there is the KOPIA Mongolia Center. Until now, success had only reached the harvest stage, but the ripening rate was about 30%, which was insufficient for industrialization.

In 2026, the goal was to raise the low ripening rate and rice quality so that it could be industrialized and reach the stage of being sold to the general public in Mongolia for the first time. Advancing rice cultivation on Mongolian soil to the harvest stage was already a remarkable achievement, but now we set a goal of growing rice with yields and quality similar to those in Korea.

In April, when the cold wind was still blowing, I again took rice seeds and headed to Khovd Province at the western end of Mongolia. We rented two old greenhouses from the Khovd Provincial Agricultural Department in Mongolia, patched the holes in them, and then made seedling trays and a seedbed to sow the rice seeds. Immediately after sowing, snow fell and the cold weather prevented sprouts from emerging on time. Right away, we gathered the seedling trays laid out in the seedbed, stacked them like boxes, and covered them with nonwoven fabric and plastic. It was a way to secure the temperature needed for germination. And after 2 to 3 days, sprouts began to emerge above the ground. After 40 days like that, we were able to transplant the rice.

From this point on, we had to solve problems that could occur when cultivating rice in the main paddy field. We had experienced likely problems like these the previous year, so we were able to prepare. We prevented growth delays caused by cold water by making a warm-water pond, and because there were many wild animals in the cultivation area, we also built a fence. After completing such preparations, on June 3 we transplanted well-grown seedlings into the paddy field. However, because of the cold weather and the still-cold paddy water, the growth of the rice was slowing down contrary to our expectations. Farmers in Korea’s mountain regions know well the varieties that can grow in cold weather and the methods for cultivating them. We planted the ‘Jinbu Olbyeo’ variety, which grows well even in cold regions, and applied potassium fertilizer so it could better withstand the cold. In Khovd Province, Mongolia, because of the early arrival of cold and snow, harvesting must be done by around September 25 at the latest. But it seemed we would be short by a few days. This was because the early germination of the rice seeds had been delayed, and the seedlings were weak right after transplanting. In early October, the ripening speed was slower than expected and made us anxious, but afterward Mongolia’s strong light intensity and temperature helped overcome this.
 

Golden rice ears form in a land of severe cold

On September 29, golden rice ears formed grain by grain at the rice trial cultivation site of the Korea Rural Development Administration’s KOPIA Mongolia Center in Khovd Province, at the western end of Mongolia. Mongolians could not hide their astonishment. The governor of Khovd Province immediately posted on his Facebook a scene of harvesting with a combine brought from Korea. Every visitor was surprised to see the rice ears, and surprised again after tasting cooked rice milled with a Korean-made rice mill. In the taste evaluation, most Mongolians marked the Excellent box on the sensory evaluation sheet. The amount harvested by combine from about 3500㎡ was more than 70 sacks of freshly harvested paddy rice. It would decrease considerably after drying, but it was a large amount. And after finishing the harvest, we completed Mongolia’s 2026 rice cultivation test, which had run from April to October. As the Korean researchers, experts and local staff who participated in rice cultivation lowered the proud Taegeukgi that had been hanging throughout the test period, we were filled with deep emotion from the difficult memories of that time and pride in the Republic of Korea. We harvested rice in Mongolia for the first time in more than 40 years. Although it was a very small thing, as a Korean, and as an agricultural researcher of the Republic of Korea, I felt as if I had played a small part for my country on my journey.