“From the heart of the herders to your hands”. This brand of cashmere products from the Eetlei Baylag cooperative network (EBCN) embodies the work accomplished over the past 10 years with AVSF’s support in Mongolia.
In 2023, this network, which today brings together over 2,200 goat breeders in 9 cooperatives, is embarking on a new adventure. Since its creation in 2013 and with the support of AVSF, the network has focused on collecting and exporting high-quality white cashmere fiber to major luxury textile companies. However, faced with accumulating stocks of unused beige and brown fibers, network members came up with the idea of transforming this raw material themselves into hats, scarves and other finished products for the local market.
These first processing and marketing trials were a resounding success, enabling the network to rapidly expand its international market. “AVSF’s support in promoting and marketing the brand has been key to attracting new customers and selling our products at remunerative prices”, explains Uranchimeg Davaajav, the network’s communications director.
What are the benefits for members?
Mongolia is a breeding country. However, the lack of recognition of the profession and difficult working conditions are prompting many herders to move to the cities. The capital, Ulaanbaatar, is home to 60% of Mongolia’s population.
Enabling herders to make a decent living from their work and preserve their ancestral way of life is a fundamental challenge. To this end, AVSF supports efforts to improve the marketing of cashmere fiber on both export and local markets, with high-quality products.
As Uranchimeg explains, initiatives such as the creation of this brand give the breeders back the visibility and central place they deserve: “Before, consumers only knew about the brands, but there was no talk of who was behind them. Creating our own brand allows us to promote the work of our breeders and all their efforts to respect rigorous specifications, in terms of the environment, rearing conditions and animal health”. Cutting out the middleman also means ensuring that the added value generated by processing goes directly back to the breeders. By processing and marketing their products, farmers and their cooperatives can benefit from prices up to 70% higher than market prices, while diversifying their sources of income.
Strength through unity
Three times the size of France, Mongolia is home to just 3.4 million people. The vastness of the sparsely populated steppes offers grandiose landscapes, but also imprisons its inhabitants in solitude. Cooperatives, which disappeared with the fall of the Communist regime in the 1990s, have been gradually reviving over the last ten years. In this context, they play a crucial role in breaking the isolation of rural families. They also encourage farmers to help each other develop their activities over the long term. The success of the EBCN network has brought this collaborative approach back into the spotlight. The ethics and quality of their work have even been officially recognized by the Mongolian government.
This recognition is also the fruit of the ongoing support provided by AVSF Mongolia’s teams, who have worked to develop farming practices and consolidate farmers’ organizations. In addition to technical and financial support, the Eetlei Baylag cooperative network and its members have benefited from numerous training courses over the past ten years, on the importance and structuring of organizations, as well as on breeding practices and their impact on the environment.
The creation of this brand is a real source of pride for EBCN and AVSF! It inaugurates a new dynamic in the construction of a fair and sustainable cashmere industry in Mongolia.
👉 Looking for a warm way to end the winter?
Request the Eetlei Baylag cashmere catalog at info@ebcn-mongoliancashmere.com
