{"id":4181,"date":"2019-04-23T16:40:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T07:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4181"},"modified":"2019-05-02T19:19:19","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T10:19:19","slug":"rural-starvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/04\/recommendations\/rural-starvation\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Signs of Starvation: Farmers Forced to Survive off of Potatoes as Regime\u2019s Unreasonable Quotas Leave Them with Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photo) The poorest people in North Korea are farmers. This photo shows a woman carrying a large sack in a rural area outside of Pyongyang. Photographed in October 2008 by Jang Jeong-kil (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

There are signs of starvation in rural areas in North Korea. Designated \u2018hungry households\u2019 have already consumed the food that was distributed to them last year and the situation is reportedly worsening as the North Korean authorities cannot afford the cost of response measures. (Kang Ji-won \/ ISHIMARU Jiro)<\/p>\n

Between spring and early summer in North Korea, there is a yearly \u201cspring shortage\u201d, when the supply of food distributed from the previous year\u2019s harvest runs out. This year, however, since early April, farmers have already started to suffer from hunger, with farm management committees in various areas declaring states of emergency.<\/p>\n

Multiple reporting partners have confirmed this information. One such partner, who visited cooperative farms in Hoeryong City, Daedok Village, and Wonsan Village in North Hamkyung Province, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn increasing number of farmers are unable to come to work because they do not have food or money. The farm management committee informed the \u2018hungry households\u2019 that they will be given time off from their duties, so that they may collect and sell wild herbs and vegetables at the market. But they have said that there is no money to be given to them at this period.\u201d<\/p>\n

On farms, a 1-2 month supply of grain is usually kept in reserve for the busy periods such as rice planting or weeding. Each farm, however, was supplied with only 20 days worth of grain at the beginning of April, with nothing being dispensed to individual farmers. A farmer on his way to work, when asked by a reporting partner, said that they are only able to eat 2 meals a day.<\/p>\n

The same is true on farms in Yanggang Province.<\/p>\n

\u201c70 percent of those living around farms are subsisting solely on potatoes,\u201d said an investigating partner. Living off of just potatoes, this means that North Koreans are one step away from a famine. With spring having just begun, it is alarming that a considerable food shortage has already developed. (As opposed to potatoes, one cannot subsist on corn porridge and will eventually starve.)<\/p>\n

So why are farmers, the producers of North Korea\u2019s food, the ones who are starving? In North Korea, each cooperative farms is tasked with providing the state with a set amount of food to be used by the military and government. Farmers are only allowed to keep whatever extra crops they can produce. The government\u2019s quotas, however, are set far too high.<\/p>\n

In addition, last year\u2019s heat waves and drought left the country with poor harvests. Despite this, farmers were still forced to meet their quotas. Now, they are left starving, victimized by the structure of requisition and exploitation set up by the state.
\nNext page : Robbed by the regime, farmers go hungry in order to meet excessive quotas\u2026 <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u25c6 Robbed by the regime, farmers go hungry in order to meet excessive quotas<\/h2>\n

According to reporting partners, grain production plans were announced for the year at the end of last March. These orders have been passed to cities, counties, and cooperative farms through the National Planning Commission.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s plans call for a total of 700 million tons of grain to be produced, with 6 tons of rice, 12 tons of corn, and 40 tons of potatoes expected to be produced for every 10,000 square meters of farmland. In addition, subdivided plans will be delivered to each cooperative farm according to the quality of their farmland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe figures put out by the national plan are written as a formality, they have no meaning at all. Farmers say that the current goal is completely unreasonable. They have been worried about how they will eat since early April and are anxious from trying to maintain the high production quota,\u201d said a reporting partner.<\/p>\n

In the case of one farm in Pochon County, Yanggang Province, the production quota for corn was set at 8 tons per 10,000 square meters. The actual output of the farm, however, was only 3.2 tons of corn.<\/p>\n

The \u201cspring shortage\u201d faced by farmers is a hardship repeated every year. This year, however, it is beginning very early. Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, in a bid to save foreign currency in the face of sanctions, will attempt to minimize food imports. As such, it is very likely that the government will force this burden upon farmers by continuing to impose excessive quotas.<\/p>\n

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