North Korea is planning to evaluate farm managers based on how well their operations perform as part of an effort to boost agricultural production.
“Party committees at all levels—provincial, municipal and county—got orders from the Central Committee to make personnel decisions for agricultural management committees and individual farms based on actual results. Basically, anyone who wants to run a farm will have to prove their worth through rice production,” a source in North Hwanghae province told Daily NK recently.
The source said that Kachang Farm in Sohung county held a general meeting of farm workers on May 20, with officials from the provincial party committee’s organization department in attendance.
Yearly output key in new evaluation system
During the meeting, committee officials laid out the new criteria to evaluate farm management positions. “Going forward, farm manager appointments won’t just be based on how long you’ve been around, but on how much you actually produce. Lower-level managers, including team leaders and work crew leaders, will be judged on yearly output,” the officials explained.
This means team leaders and crew leaders will be evaluated each fall based on how well they managed their operations during the growing season, harvest results, and whether they followed regulations. The bottom 20% of managers will be fired or face other penalties, while top performers will be recommended for promotion to the farm management committee or other positions. These promotions come with recognition and the title of “patriotic farm warrior.”
The new system is meant to create competition among lower-level managers and increase production.
During the meeting, two crew leaders and one team leader who had performed poorly last year were publicly called out for replacement as a trial run of the new system. Provincial party committee officials named these managers during the meeting.
“Crops are grown with dirt and sweat, not speeches and titles. Managers need to prove they deserve their jobs,” the official said. The comment made everyone in the room uncomfortable.
Farm workers had plenty to talk about after the meeting. “I guess from now on, a manager’s credentials will be measured in how much rice we harvest,” one said.
“Sounds like even managers will have to deliver results each season if they want to keep their jobs,” another commented.
“Keeping poorly performing managers around just drags down the whole farm,” a third added.
“People can tell that expanding performance-based farm management isn’t just empty talk, but a real political message and the party’s actual plan,” the source said.
Young farmers are excited about changes
Younger farmers like the change, with one happily noting that “people who are actually good at farming can become crew leaders now.”
Another young farmer seemed excited that “proving your loyalty through rice production isn’t just a slogan anymore, but an actual standard.”
Many farmers view these measures favorably, believing that people who get results should be the ones in charge.
But some current managers are complaining that it’s “unnecessarily harsh to judge people based on harvest size when so much of farming depends on luck.”
The performance-based personnel system is set to be implemented at major farms across North Hwanghae province this year. The province’s agricultural officials have stood firm in their position that “real servants of the people need to prove themselves in the field.”
