In early October, North Korea dispatched special teams made up of party cadres to collective farms across the country as part of efforts to prevent the loss of harvested crops.
According to a source in North Hamgyong Province last Thursday, the teams, called “party guidance teams,” are composed of province, county, and city-level party committee workers, as well as members of people’s committees, prosecutors’ offices, and other important institutions.
The teams have been comprehensively identifying problems with the fall harvest, and have been reporting on a daily basis to upper-level party committees about their observations.
According to the source, the reporting system is as follows: When farm work unit leaders (farm managers) report the daily volume of grain harvested and threshed to the party guidance teams, the teams then report the amount of grain produced each day to county and city party committees. The county and city party committees then report these figures to the provincial party committees.
“It’s rare to see party guidance teams having a mix of members from so many different institutions,” the source said. “If the teams are composed of members from a single institution, it’s possible for bribery or some other kind of corruption to crop up. That’s probably the reason why the authorities have sent out teams made up of members from different institutions.”
Based on the source’s account, party guidance teams were dispatched to collective farms in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, on Oct. 5. The officials have been surveying the work units and assessing the results of the day’s rice harvest and threshing on a daily basis.
The party guidance teams are checking the attendance rates and output of work unit members. The teams also come out in the evenings to watch over the threshing floor until the day’s work is finished. Daily NK’s source explained that officials are guarding the threshing floor to prevent farmers from siphoning off grain during the threshing process.
It is a common practice on North Korean collective farms to buy pigs, goats, and dogs on credit for the farmers to eat during the spring corn planting and rice transplanting seasons. The farms then pay back this debt with corn and rice harvested in the fall. With a portion of the crop yields going to repay this debt, yields drop by dozens or even hundreds of kilograms below the initial amount of crops harvested.
Essentially, the party guidance teams are watching over the threshing floors until late at night to prevent farmers from siphoning off crops to use to pay back the debts. This has put farm managers in a tough spot.
“The custom of paying for the cost of purchasing livestock through credit with crops harvested in the fall is aimed at encouraging farmers to work hard,” the source said. “With party guidance teams watching over the threshing process, farmers are concerned about how they’ll pay back the debts, even complaining that the only thing their loyalty to the government will leave them is debt.”
Many farmers are expressing unhappiness because they feel like they will have to carry this year’s debts until next autumn, the source added.
Translated by Rose Adams.
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