Many North Korean farmers are unhappy about their government’s push to convert crop fields into rice paddies, Daily NK has learned.
“As the soil gets drier and droughts worsen because of global warming, the government has called for the creation of irrigation facilities at all farms and is harassing farmers to build them immediately to the great irritation of farm managers and regular people,” a reporting partner in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
According to the reporting partner, an order handed down by the North Korean Cabinet’s Agricultural Commission on Mar. 18 emphasized once again the need to resolve the country’s irrigation issues. “The Workers’ Party is firmly committed to helping farm workers — who endure more hardship than anyone else — to live happy lives in a wealthy and civilized socialist paradise,” the order said.
The order also contained detailed instructions about strengthening irrigation facilities at most corn fields in the country’s breadbasket with a view to turn them into rice paddies.
In response to the order, South Pyongan Province has ordered the mass mobilization of citizens for related projects to at least make a show of adhering to the orders handed down in relation to the decisions reached at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, which mainly dealt with the farming agenda.
MASS MOBILIZATIONS
Students and other residents of South Pyongan Province are being mobilized in large numbers to plow over crop fields that are in lowlands or near reservoirs, lakes and rivers, the reporting partner said.
While people are unable to openly complain about these efforts, they are voicing criticism in private gatherings, he added.
In addition to frustration with the mass mobilization orders, farmers are incensed that the government could not find a better way to help farms resolve issues with cultivating grains, as it has promised, and are afraid that all these efforts will just ruin the year’s crop.
Even farm managers have been flummoxed by the government’s plan, the reporting partner said.
According to him, one farm manager complained that “last year, we were told to plant wheat in the cornfields, and this year we’re supposed to turn them into rice paddies.” Another farm manager told him that “I’m not sure what to think of these orders to suddenly convert cornfields into rice paddies without even carrying out a decent soil analysis.”
Given that the farm managers have no other choice but to follow orders from the government, their anxiety over the government’s plans will only deepen as time goes on, the reporting partner added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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