Farmland and crops in some parts of North Korea’s two Hwanghae provinces, considered the country’s breadbasket, have suffered damage due to recent rains and winds, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea on Tuesday, recent torrential rains have flooded hectares of rice paddies and bean patches in North Hwanghae Province’s Kumchon County, Tosan County and Changpung County, while high winds have blown down corn stalks and caused other crop damage.
In some parts of South Hwanghae Province, including Chongdan County, Paechon County and Yonan County, torrential rains and strong winds destroyed farmland and damaged crops, with collective farms in Chongdan County suffering the worst damage.
In fact, at collective farms in Chongdan County’s Ungok-ri and Chongjong-ri, not only have fields been flooded, but homes and facilities have been destroyed, resulting in casualties.
North Korea’s government, however, has done nothing to respond, forcing some of the people who lost their homes to temporarily live in work-only lounges, day care centers and kindergartens.
Torrential rains and strong winds may have battered the two Hwanghae provinces, but North Korean authorities have simply called for safety measures to reduce damage in the agricultural sector. No mention has been made of the losses suffered in the region.
With North Korea broadly promoting its “victory” over COVID-19, declared during a recent meeting to review national quarantine efforts, the authorities appear to be avoiding mention of natural disasters, which could throw cold water on the self-celebratory mood.
Daily NK’s source said that prior preparations were made to reduce damage to farmland and crops during the rainy season, but “preventing damage from continuous torrential rains and strong winds isn’t easy.”
“Even now, recovery work is fully underway at farms in South Hwanghae Province and North Hwanghae Province,” he added.
Whether North Korean farmers eat or starve depends on the results of the year’s farming. Even if the year’s farming goes well, the actual share of the crop distributed to farmers after the state takes its allotted cut is woefully insufficient, so farmers often receive no share at all.
Some farmers even believe they will get no share of the fall harvest because of the damage done to farmland and crops by rain and wind this season, the source added.
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