North Korean authorities are pushing fertilizer production, even though they are not supplying urea, a necessary raw material. This is leading to complaints on the ground, with workers saying that fertilizer without urea does nothing to boost agricultural production.
A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday that a recent plenary meeting of the provincial party committee decided to send even more organic compound fertilizer to small family plots in the province “based on the experience and lessons of last year.” The meeting said fertilizer supply was a vital link to increasing grain production by more than a ton per jongboA unit of measure commonly used to measure the size of land ... More (about 9,900 square meters), tasking farms with producing organic compound fertilizer.
North Korea has been conducting a sweeping campaign to boost food production this year with the goal of increasing grain production by more than a ton per jongboA unit of measure commonly used to measure the size of land ... More. Basically, the authorities have tasked ordinary people with producing organic compound fertilizer as a key task to achieving party goals.
On the ground, however, people are complaining that the authorities are simply demanding production without providing the urea needed to produce organic compound fertilizer. That is to say, the authorities are making unreasonable demands even though fertilizer without urea cannot raise agricultural production.
The source said in most cities and counties in the province, people use commonly available peat moss or manure to produce organic compound fertilizer, but this needs a certain amount of urea to work.
He said the provincial party meeting made no mention of providing urea. He added that in this case, agriculture will not thrive just because you tasked people with producing organic compound fertilizer.
North Korea has been experiencing severe difficulties producing fertilizer due to urea supply shortages. The aftermath of China’s curbs on urea exports apparently continues.
Trade between North Korea and China has partially reopened with the restart of freight train service between the two countries from January. However, imports of raw materials have not been smooth, and with North Korea’s high-priority switch to domestic production going nowhere near expected, fertilizer production has yet to improve at all.
Even Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory has yet to properly produce fertilizer.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had attended the plant’s inauguration ceremony in 2020, where he called the opening of the facility the “gunfire signaling the first victory” in the country’s “frontal breakthrough” campaign.
Meanwhile, North Korea is promoting organic compound fertilizer through local media.
Rodong Sinmun reported on Apr. 2 that officials and workers in the agricultural sector of North Hwanghae Province were pushing the production of organic compound fertilizer to achieve the goal of increasing grain production by a ton per jongboA unit of measure commonly used to measure the size of land ... More. It said the officials and workers tasked with fertilizer production within the province — strictly adhering to the law on standards and technical regulations — had produced countless tons of organic compound fertilizer in March, and were distributing it to local farms.
However, considering how the authorities have yet to resolve the urea situation and concerns raised on the front line of fertilizer production, the fertilizer promoted in the Rodong Sinmun report is likely ineffective.
The source said the provincial party recently dispatched even supervisory personnel to sites to encourage fertilizer production. However, he said local officials say fertilizer without urea is useless, no matter how many tons of it you make.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
