As part of efforts to gain self-sufficiency in the production of cooking oil, Kangwon Province recently ordered people to plant sunflowers and hand over the seeds in the fall, Daily NK has learned.
“The party committee in Kangwon Province had farm management committees at the municipal, county and provincial level raise the issue of planting sunflowers everywhere, given the need to cultivate raw materials for tackling the cooking oil issue,” a Daily NK reporting partner in Kangwon Province said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
This year, the provincial party committee has stressed that all residents of the province need to help produce raw materials to address the “cooking oil issue.” Toward that end, the committee has ordered all companies, organizations and farms in the province — along with schools, neighborhood watch units and even chapters of the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea — to plant sunflowers and hand over the seeds in the fall.
Noting that Kangwon Province has the warmest weather in North Korea, the provincial party committee called on residents to set an example for the rest of the country in sunflower cultivation and produce the raw ingredients needed to address the issue.
“So far, we’ve imported our cooking oil from China. But the Chinese oil is cheap, and the toxins haven’t been filtered out. We shouldn’t cook with that kind of oil anymore. We should resolve the cooking oil issue by producing the raw ingredients ourselves,” the provincial party committee said.
Sunflower cultivation quotas have been given to each organization, company, family and student, and the party committee’s requisition plan has been publicized as well.
“After hearing the provincial party committee’s orders, people have objected that they’re in no position to worry about cooking oil when they’re struggling just to feed their families. People are complaining that being asked to plant sunflowers isn’t reasonable since that would leave them with even less land to grow grains on,” the reporting partner said.
Frustrated as they may be, residents of the province have no choice but to carry out party policy and plant sunflowers around their houses and fields and on nearby hills. But they are already worried about how to keep away thieves in the fall when the sunflowers bloom, he said.
“Some of the wealthier residents aren’t even preparing to plant sunflowers. They say it makes better sense to buy sunflower seeds from China in the fall rather than going to all the trouble of growing sunflowers only for them to be stolen.”
Many Kangwon Province residents appear to be unhappy by the contradictions inherent in the provincial party committee’s order, which burdens the public with sunflower cultivation quotas with the ostensible goal of supplying them with cooking oil.
Some people are complaining that the government should just let everyone support themselves instead of distributing cooking oil, the reporting partner added.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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