Farmers and ordinary North Koreans have been mobilized en masse to complete the fall harvest in the country’s northern regions. However, agricultural Party officials are having trouble dealing with some farmers who have found ways to avoid the mandatory labor and are instead working on their own private business activities to earn money.
“It appears that the yield from this year’s harvest will be very low, so there are already farmers who are finding ways to deal with situation [the fact that they will receive very few crops],” said a North Hamgyong Province-based source. “There are families that have at least one person who is preparing to earn money through business activities distinct from the farming activities required by the state.”
The Farmers Management Committee in Onsong County, North Hamgyong Province, is trying to encourage people to complete the harvest of grains with the slogan “Everyone [must] head to the fall harvest battle ground.” The source reported that the committee hands down orders on a daily basis, emphasizing the importance of sticking together and that every single person’s efforts are key to the success of the harvest.
However, some farmers with families have traveled to other areas of the region for business for several days at a time, ultimately avoiding work in the fields.
Even farmers who conduct business activities on a regular basis have, in the past, tended to meet their quotas at the farms, but this year the harvest has been so bad that these same farmers are openly refraining from going to the fields at all.
“The drought and heavy rains have led to a poor harvest this year, but even those with individual plots of land are seeing a very bad year,” said the source. “It’s difficult for families to survive off such farming alone. The agricultural Party officials come to people’s houses and tell them to go to the fields, but this only leads to the farmers going out to the fields for a couple of days at a time.”
The Farmers Management Committee has ordered Party officials to tell families of the farmers not going to work to determine where they are and tell them to come to work.
“They are telling families that if they don’t follow orders they [the farmers not going to work] will be punished. Some people who didn’t show up for work were in fact arrested by the local police for not listening to orders, but were later released,” said a source in Ryanggang Province.
“The harvest must be completed on time so the grains can be preserved. The farm managers are having a tough time [keeping everyone in line]. However, the state still fails to distribute the harvested crops properly [to the farmers] so the Party cadres can’t just place blame on individual farmers. The agricultural Party officials are also being criticized by the county Party officials [for failing to manage things properly].”
