{"id":324164,"date":"2026-04-16T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=324164"},"modified":"2026-04-15T17:19:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:19:47","slug":"north-korea-farmers-cash-crops-private-plots-north-pyongan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-farmers-cash-crops-private-plots-north-pyongan\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korean farmers ditch food crops for cash crops as market logic takes hold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">North Korean farmers in parts of North Pyongan province are increasingly abandoning staple food crops on their private plots in favor of higher-value cash crops, signaling a broader shift in rural survival strategy from subsistence farming to market-oriented production.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province on Wednesday, the trend is most visible around Kujang county&#8217;s Sangri Industrial Crop Farm, a state-run facility specializing in crops used as industrial raw materials. On private garden plots and small personal landholdings known as <em>sotoji<\/em> (informal private plots cultivated outside the state plan), farmers have been increasingly growing industrial crops such as tobacco and castor bean, as well as medicinal herbs including <em>deodeok<\/em> (a native bellflower root), bellflower, yam, and gastrodia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">In the past, these plots were devoted almost exclusively to basic food crops such as corn, soybeans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Now, farmers are restructuring their private cultivation along practical lines: medicinal crops on hillside terraces and slopes, and industrial crops closer to home on flat garden land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<h2 class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><strong>From subsistence to market: a shift in rural strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The source said farmers in other rural areas near industrial crop farms are closely watching farm management practices and trying to apply them to their own plots. &#8220;Rather than just growing food like before, the trend toward planting crops that make money has become unmistakable,&#8221; the source said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Some farmers are informally obtaining seeds, cultivation techniques, and pest management know-how from state farm workers, then applying them on their private plots. The Workers&#8217; Party of Korea promotes the principles of &#8220;right crop for the right place&#8221; and &#8220;right crop for the right time&#8221; as part of its agricultural policy, and the state&#8217;s push to expand industrial crop production has created an opening that farmers are exploiting for personal gain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;Industrial crops fetch a higher price than regular food crops because they&#8217;re used as raw materials for local factories,&#8221; the source said, noting that sayings like &#8220;one plot of tobacco beats a few rows of corn&#8221; and &#8220;an herb field is more valuable land&#8221; have spread among farming communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The source added that North Korean farmers are increasingly prioritizing cash income over subsistence, focusing on what will sell at the <em>jangmadang<\/em> (informal markets) rather than what they will eat. &#8220;There&#8217;s a change where people are thinking about how to get the most out of the effort, time, and land they have,&#8221; the source said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Observers on the ground describe the shift as more than just a change in what gets planted. They say it reflects a fundamental transformation in how rural North Koreans relate to the economy, moving away from passive compliance with state directives and toward a calculating, market-aware approach to household income.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Some voices of caution have emerged, however. Without sufficient expertise in specialty crop cultivation, farmers who fail to turn a profit could end up deepening their financial burdens rather than alleviating them. Even so, the source said the craze for cash crops is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, driven by the urgent need for ready money in North Korea&#8217;s countryside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20260415-5\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<!-- Daily NK \u2014 A Note to Readers \u2014 End of Article Pattern -->\n<div style=\"background:#1a1a1a;border-top:3px solid #cc0000;padding:0;margin-top:32px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">\n  <div style=\"padding:20px 24px 24px;\">\n\n    <!-- Header row -->\n    <div style=\"display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;margin-bottom:14px;\">\n      <span style=\"background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 8px;flex-shrink:0;\">A Note to Readers<\/span>\n      <div style=\"flex:1;height:1px;background:#333;\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <!-- Intro line -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:15px;color:#fff;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 12px;\">Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n\n    <!-- Body -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 16px;\">\n      Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. 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According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province on Wednesday, the trend is most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":256,"featured_media":324166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,869],"tags":[696,714,767,2611,100,123,673],"class_list":["post-324164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-agriculture","tag-north-pyongan-province","tag-economy","tag-food","tag-jangmadang","tag-markets","tag-farming","tag-workers-party-of-korea"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Korean farmers swap food crops for cash crops<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"North Korean farmers in North Pyongan province are abandoning staple crops for tobacco and herbs as market 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