This year’s potato crop has begun circulating in markets, which is welcome news for North Koreans who have been suffering from the food shortages.
“With the potato harvest nearly over, freshly harvested potatoes are being sold at Hyesan markets. The price ranges from KPW 700-1,000, depending on the size of the potatoes,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Since the price of rice is still rising and the alternative staple of corn is selling for more than KPW 3,000 per kilogram, buying groceries has been a considerable source of stress for financially strapped people. The potato haul’s arrival at the market is helping people relax a little, the source explained.
“People’s daily earnings nowadays are around KPW 2,000 on average. While that’s not enough to buy a kilogram of corn, it is enough to buy a couple kilograms of potatoes. So even those who are hard up won’t starve.”
At the same time, some working people in Yanggang Province have received potato rations in recent weeks.
“In mid-September, the Workers’ Party’s provincial committee convened a meeting of municipal and county organization leaders to discuss potato rations. Officials were urged during the meeting to do everything in their power to resolve the food shortage this year even if that requires some belt-tightening,” the source said.
The source also shared the instructions given by the Workers’ Party’s provincial secretary during the meeting: “Last year, organization leaders often stopped trying to distribute potato rations because of the high transportation costs, but that shows a complete lack of consideration for workers. Expensive as the rations may be, they’re still less expensive than market prices, so let’s put our talents to use and ensure that workers get their potato rations this year.”
As a result, factory and enterprise directors have been visiting farms and working with farm managers to ensure they are allotted farm plots with good yields, the source said.
The Workers’ Party’s provincial secretary also ordered that dependent families (those without any employed family members) be given potatoes at the food distribution office. So while some families did not receive any rations at all last year, that should not happen this year, the source said.
“Hyesan residents are saying that a decent potato ration will really help them make it through the winter and that at the very least nobody will starve. The news about the potato rations and rumors that this year’s potato harvest was better than last year’s are easing people’s food worries.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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