{"id":5858,"date":"2022-06-14T13:53:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T04:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5858"},"modified":"2022-06-17T18:36:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T09:36:06","slug":"farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/06\/society-economy\/farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1eFarmers face very difficult conditions with food shortages causing rampant starvation\u2026Labor shortages mean many farm fields remain unweeded and unplanted\u2026Crop yields are down because of recent droughts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Even women living in cities are mobilized to work in the fields during the busy farming season. This photo, which was taken in June 2013, shows people weeding a farm field in the northern area of the country. (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Kim Jong-un regime acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19 on May 12. The announcement came as the country was beginning efforts to plant farm fields. The outbreak of COVID-19 forced the authorities to halt mobilizations of city dwellers to farming communities. Meanwhile, North Korea\u2019s farming regions, which had already begun to run out of food reserves in April, are facing increasing concerns about starvation. A reporting partner in the northern region of the country recently provided a report regarding life in one of the country\u2019s collective farms. (KANG Ji-won \/ ISHIMARU Jiro<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u25c6 City dwellers not being mobilized to farming regions due to coronavirus lockdowns<\/h2>\n

The months stretching from May to July are a busy time in North Korea, with many people heading to farming areas to assist with planting and weeding. Urban residents - from laborers, students, and housewives to even government officials and party cadres - all take part in this mass mobilization of people to the country\u2019s agricultural regions. This annual mobilization came to a screeching halt this year, however, after the government called for a ban on movement to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Kim Jong-un regime ahd ordered a \u201ccomplete mobilization\u201d of people to farming areas under the banner of \u201cputting agriculture first\u201d earlier this year; however, the COVID-19 outbreak has thrown a wrench into those plans.<\/p>\n

In early June, ASIAPRESS received a report from a reporting partner at a collective farm in North Hamgyung Province. The collective farm mainly grows corn and has around 500 farmers. The farm is on the smaller side when compared with other farms in the province. The reporting partner,\u201cD,\u201d has long provided ASIAPRESS with information about life on the farm. His report suggests that the situation there is very dire.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS has been unable to obtain reports from North Korea\u2019s \u201cgrain basket\u201d \u2013 North and South Hwanghae provinces \u2013 making it difficult to surmise how well the farming season is going in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What is the COVID-19 situation like at the collective farm?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000There have been people suffering from symptoms of COVID-19. Each work team conducts temperature checks every day, but because there\u2019s a shortage of labor, team members who don\u2019t have any symptoms are told to go to work even if another member of their team has come down with a fever. They are told to social distance while working. The teams no longer conduct morning roll calls.<\/p>\n

\u203b A work team is the smallest group of farmers on a collective farm. The teams are made up of around 10 people.<\/p>\n

\u203b In areas outside the capital of Pyongyang, there are no PCR or anti-gen tests available to confirm whether someone has been infected with COVID-19. As a result, it is difficult to know the exact coronavirus situation at the farm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 We\u2019ve heard that agricultural areas have not been locked down.<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000There are no bans on going outside, and everyone must go work in the fields. People are banned from going to urban areas. The authorities think that the spread of the virus in agricultural areas would be a big problem, so outsiders are not allowed into the areas, and farmers are not allowed out. Disease control checkpoints have been setup on roads heading out of the area and everyone is prohibited from entering except for those who have been mobilized to work on the farm.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Planting comes to a standstill<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 The COVID-19 outbreak occurred during the crop planting period. How has this impacted farming activities?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000There is a severe lack of people working in the fields. There\u2019s lots of \u201cempty land\u201d because there hasn\u2019t been enough people to plant corn seeds. The fields are full of weeds because there\u2019s too few people to weed them. The farm is forcing farmers to weed the fields at night. Cadres even come out at night to make sure the workers are wearing masks. The farmers are having such a difficult time that some even pretend that they have symptoms of the coronavirus just to get out of work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 The potato harvest is just around the corner, is it not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000The potato crop this year is very bad because of the droughts. I\u2019ve heard the yield is not even 50% of the past year. The potato crop won\u2019t do much to help the shortage of food during the \u201cbarley hump\u201d (the off-season before the next harvest).<\/p>\n

\u203b In North Korea, potatoes are harvested in June. There wasn\u2019t much rain in the country from April to May of this year. ASIAPRESS understands that the potato yield at another collective farm in Yanggang Province was also very poor.<\/p>\n

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Map of North Korea ( ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 Increase in \u201cfood-short households\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 What is the food situation at the farm? We\u2019ve heard that there were starving people at the farm in April.<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000It\u2019s a serious situation. There are more food-short households now than in April. One work team is made up of around 10 people, and 4-6 people \u2013 around half of a work team \u2013 have been classified as food-short households. There are so many people who can\u2019t even have one or two meals per day. Many people are suffering from facial swelling (due to starvation).<\/p>\n

\u203b Food-short households refers to people who have no cash or food on hand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Is the government taking any measures to deal with starvation among farmers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:\u3000<\/strong> There\u2019s no support from the government. The county (government) and collective farm have simply been ordered to deal with the situation on their own. They say there\u2019s no food for people living in agricultural areas because food supplies have been given out to people locked down in cities.<\/p>\n

Up until last year, the usual practice was to hand out food reserves to farmers in advance with the expectation that the farmers would pay for the food after the fall harvest. The government stopped permitting the practice this year. Moreover, farmers are no longer able to obtain high-interest loans to purchase food because the government has called the act of loaning money to farmers \u201canti-socialist behavior.\u201d In response, farmers are demanding that the government should step in to provide loans instead.<\/p>\n

The situation in agricultural areas is very severe, so much so that the government has promoted the fact that it has sent cadres to farming areas to solve problems they are facing\u2026This year\u2019s harvest is a total wash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015We\u2019ve heard that lockdowns in urban areas have been loosened enough to allow city workers to be sent to agricultural areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> \u3000Companies have begun sending their employees to agricultural areas by creating so-called \u201cagricultural mobilization labor brigades.\u201d They say that these brigades will stay in agricultural areas until the farming period is over because any increase in the movement of people could lead to the spread of COVID-19. Once the coronavirus situation stabilizes, anyone able enough to do so will be sent to agricultural areas.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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