North Korea farming remains one of the regime’s most persistent vulnerabilities, with chronic food insecurity rooted in poor soil, outdated infrastructure, ideological constraints on agricultural reform, and the ongoing tension between collective farming and the individual responsibility system. Daily NK covers North Korea farming through reports on harvest conditions, seasonal mobilizations, fertilizer and equipment shortages, agricultural policy directives from Pyongyang, and the ground-level reality facing farmers across the country’s provinces. Our in-country sources provide some of the most detailed and timely reporting on North Korea’s agricultural situation available in English.
Tag: farming
N. Korea’s largest fertilizer complex no longer operational
Production at North Korea’s largest fertilizer plant, the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex, has halted and its workers have been sent to work on other projects,...
Key North Korean agricultural reform measure faces snags
A key North Korean agricultural reform measure, the field responsibility system (FRS), is encountering difficulties with wider implementation due to broken government promises, Daily...
New North Korean agricultural system yields promising results
An agricultural system recently implemented in select areas of North Korea has experienced success among some farms in Ryanggang Province, Daily NK sources have...
North Korea prioritizes families with dependents in potato handouts
North Korean households in Ryanggang Province with dependents will be given priority to receive potatoes harvested in the province this year, Daily NK learned...
Central committee official dismissed for illicit affair
An official from the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee dispatched to a farm in Ryanggang Province has apparently been dismissed from his position...
North Korea’s rich pay to exempt kids from farm work
North Korea’s rich and powerful are increasingly paying school teachers to exempt their children from mandatory farm mobilizations, and schools are using these funds...
North Korean soldiers plunder civilian farmland
North Koreans with private plots of farmland are facing increased instances of theft by soldiers charged with harvesting food for military bases, Daily NK...
Man dies in industrial accident at tobacco farm
A young man in his early 20s died last month after becoming trapped in a drying machine on a tobacco farm in North Hamgyong...
Tobacco farm faces crisis after Typhoon Lingling
Delays on repairs to roads in South Hwanghae Province damaged by Typhoon Lingling has led to shortages of coal needed for tobacco farming and...
North Korea suffers mass deaths of grass-fed goats
Despite North Korea’s attempts to increase the number of goats and other animals in the country, Daily NK sources have reported that state efforts...
