Food shortages among North Korean farmers are worsening amid the rise in grain prices in the country that began last year.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea on Thursday, only about 50% of farmers attached to collective farms are showing up for work.
South Pyongan Province carried out a survey of worker turnout at collective farms ahead of the full-scale start of the farming season. With attendance at a collective farm in Mundok County at 57%, worker turnout has been fairly low.
In particular, food-poor farming households reportedly account for most of the farmers who fail to show up to work. Many lack the energy to head to the fields due to hunger.
The source said a survey by the province revealed that not even 30% of farming households in the province have stored enough food to last until this autumn’s harvest.
Some collective farms in the region’s breadbasket have stored enough food to last until the harvest thanks to last year’s yields. But for most collective farms, last year’s production was low, and with much of their grain going to the state in the form of military stores and other taxes, individual farmers have had very little food to store.
The source said farmers broke their backs in the fields, but with all the grain they have harvested going to the military, they have been unable to fill their bellies with the fruits — well, grains — of their labor. He suggested this might be the reason more and more farmers refuse to go to work.
Daily NK previously reported that food-poor families are skyrocketing in North Korea’s cities and rural communities. In the case of rural families, an average of 10 to 20% have no food at all, while 40 to 70% are suffering food shortages so severe that they can barely have one meal a day.
Meanwhile, the price of grain in North Korean markets shows no signs of falling. As of Sunday, the market price of a kilogram of rice was KPW 5,120 in Pyongyang, KPW 5,300 in Sinuiju and KPW 5,400 in Hyesan. Basically, it has been holding in the KPW 5,000 – KPW 6,000 range since last month.
Even the price of corn, favored by low-income earners since it is cheaper than rice, has been rising. As of Sunday, a kilogram of corn cost KPW 2,800 in Pyongyang, KPW 2,770 in Sinuiju and KPW 2,840 in Hyesan.
With North Korean authorities enacting agricultural policies aimed at expanding the cultivation of wheat instead of corn, the price of corn will likely continue to rise.
Farmers are reportedly complaining about the wheat cultivation scheme because they believe that rising corn prices will likely aggravate the burden on low-income families when buying food.
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