North Korean authorities have ordered workers at factories and enterprises to collect “grass compost” to address fertilizer shortages, sparking complaints, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Tuesday that enterprises “have recently been tasked with producing grass compost to support rural communities.” The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many workers at a mining company in Kyongwon County are complaining “because each workspace was tasked with producing 20 tons (44,092 pounds) of grass compost.”
Each work team at the mining company created a five-or six-person team for the assignment, with each person assigned an average of 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) of grass compost.
“People were tasked with 200 to 300 kilograms (441 to 661 pounds) of grass compost in early spring before the planting season, but to fertilize the land for double cropping, you need to increase the fertilizer a lot, so they tasked laborers again with grass compost, increasing the task to 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds),” the source said.
Producing grass compost involves composting summer grasses. Manure or food scraps are added to accelerate the process.
“Grass compost came about as a substitute due to a lack of animal manure or human feces, but since grass itself isn’t enough to fertilize paddies or fields, you need to ferment it sufficiently with household animal manure or feces,” the source said. “So, the production task isn’t easy to carry out.”
The source added, “In fact, grass compost doesn’t really help much in fertilizing the soil. It just keeps the soil soft, but it needs more than grass to be fertile. It’s all just formalism, and the people are simply exploited doing pointless tasks with the leaders constantly pretending to do something by telling the public to do this or that.”
Workers have complaints about the grass compost task
“Many laborers complain that it’s hard enough simply doing their work group tasks,” the source said. “They get mad when they have to go to the hillsides to pick grass, asking how much it would really help if the grass turns to compost and whether their effort was really being well spent.”
The mining enterprise was previously criticized for “taking shortcuts” when it tried producing grass compost using mud and coal rather than manure, according to the source.
“It seems the authorities think they can squeeze the common people,” the source said. “They tell us to provide 150 kilograms (331 pounds) of scrap metal a month, then grass compost in early spring and another 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) of grass compost for double cropping, so people are afraid to open their eyes in the morning.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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