South Hwanghae Province’s party committee recently issued an order for party officials to hold party cell and elementary party reviews of agricultural machinery, a source in the province told Daily NK on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Last week, the provincial party committee received a directive from the Central Committee’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, which stated: “The task of party members is to carry out the sacred mission of serving the true people and to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the struggle put forward at the [recent] party plenum.”
The provincial party committee said that during the review meetings, party officials must discuss how they have served under the party’s trust and consideration and how they will repay the party for sending the best and most productive agricultural machinery to South Hwanghae Province over the past three years.
The committee stressed that South Hwanghae Province party officials are in charge of agriculture in the country’s grain belt, so they should follow in the footsteps of the Supreme Leader (Kim Jong Un), who is concerned about solving the people’s food problems, and find solutions to all the problems in agriculture to become a model province in grain production this year.
The committee also said that the main thrust of the review sessions is to eliminate opportunism, trickery, and defeatism in the New Year, and ensure that 2024 becomes a year when agriculture and industry work hand in hand to bring about an increase in agricultural production.
“In an unusual move, farmers were ordered to submit accurate evaluations of all the agricultural machinery they use in the fields during the review sessions,” the source said.
Specifically, farmers were asked to evaluate the suitability and efficiency of new agricultural machinery and whether new or existing machinery is better suited for the realities of farming. Only then, the committee said, can the party make the right policies for the agricultural sector and ensure both quality and quantity in the production of agricultural machinery.
With half of new agricultural machinery not being used due to a lack of diesel fuel, faulty machinery, and difficulties in maintenance, the order was intended to help farmers determine whether the party’s push for more machinery would help their farms, the source said.
But many workers were confused by the request, he said.
“Farmers know that no one would dare write such a frank opinion that the farm machinery the party has sent to South Hwanghae Province is not suitable for realities of farming.”
Translated by Robert Lauler.
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