Experimental farm policy changes are set to fail in the Hyesan region of Yangkang Province, Daily NK has learned, after totally unsuitable areas were designated for the experimental farming and some new tenets of agricultural policy stalled on the drawing board.
A source from Hyesan in Yangkang Province told Daily NK on the 5th, “Some areas of Hyesan were designated as places to implement the farm management improvement policy on an experimental basis, and additional manpower was brought in for those areas. However, the areas are on steep slopes or in places where the soil is full of rocks, so farming there is impossible.”
“Soldiers and shock troops are mobilized daily to do the farming work, but tractors and agricultural equipment can’t be used on the experimental fields, so it is just making everyone angry.”
“Despite the fact that things are like this, the [authorities] just keep going on about nothing being impossible if we attain the Marshal [Kim Jong Eun]’s ‘masikryeong speed’ and how we must fulfill the annual plan,” the source went on.
Sources say that the authorities have set in place the basis of a new agricultural management method, one that involves smaller work units (from 10-25 people down to 4-6 people) and a 70-30 split with the state in the distribution of output. Creating experimental areas for the implementation of the plan can be seen as marking the launch of the so-called ‘June 28th Policy.’ However, while farmers were excited by the plan in the beginning and harbored great expectations, the passing of time has undermined their interest.
The source said, “Initially, farm workers welcomed the fact that they would get paid out of production by the cooperative farm. They wanted to work hard. However, now everything has returned to how it used to be. The number of people losing hope for this cooperative farm is growing with the passing of time.”
Meanwhile, the idea of leasing land to non-farmers to cultivate has also fallen by the wayside. According to the source, “They don’t even mention that any more. Some cadres claim, ‘We’re going to do that from next year for sure,’ but nobody believes a word of it.”
