Agriculture in North Korea
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The North Korean agriculture is inherently facing huge challenges, which include the mountainous terrain, the extreme seasons and highly variable rainfall count. Agriculture is made more difficult by cold winters, the long and heavy rainy season (especially in the center of the country, less pronounced in the north) and in spring by a long dry season. Since large parts of the country consist of hills and mountains, only about 17% of the country can be used for agriculture. The agricultural products grown in North Korea include rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, legumes, beef, pork, poultry and eggs. In the 1990s there were several crop disasters, the consequences of which continue to this day. Even in good years, 4 to 20% of vital grain has to be imported.
The agricultural starting point in North Korea
Agriculture in North Korea is concentrated in the western provinces of Hwanghaebukdo, Hwanghaenamdo, Pyonganbukdo and Pyongannamdo. The more intensive cultivation of these areas can be explained by the longer cultivation times, flat terrain, more balanced rainfall and better soils. In other regions of North Korea, arable farming is often carried out on higher-lying fields (darakbat), often without the approval of the authorities. That is why there is mostly animal husbandry and fruit growing. The graph below shows the proportion of agriculture in mountain regions, depending on the district, compared with total agriculture.
Cultivation products
The main crops in the DPRK are rice, corn and potatoes. While rice is one of the traditional crops of Korea alongside cereals, efforts have recently been made to increase the production of corn and potatoes.
Rice cultivation
Rice cultivation is the traditional branch of Korean agriculture. The rice fields in North Korea are concentrated on the western coastal plains, where the milder climate offers better conditions than in the rest of the country. Since rice is an important part of Korean cuisine, it is usually grown in the best fields. The scarce resources of fertilizers and machines are mainly used for growing rice.
Corn cultivation
Corn cultivation has been promoted in recent years for economic reasons and is playing an increasingly important role in North Korean agriculture. In North Korea, the maize is often planted in greenhouses and then placed outdoors. The corn varieties grown in North Korea are very resistant varieties that can withstand harsh winters. The Painted Montana Corn was introduced to North Korea by the American scientist Dave Christensen in 2003 and 2004 and helped overcome the food shortage. The maize variety had been cultivated by the Mandan Indian tribe before America was discovered in 1492 and grows at very high altitudes, which is ideal for North Korea. Both maize and potato cultivation take place mainly on hilly terrain.
Potato cultivation
Just like corn, the potato is playing an increasingly important role in North Korean agriculture. After the famine in the 1990s , the potato revolution took place, with which the cultivation of potatoes was forced. The reason for choosing the potato is its good adaptability and high nutritional content. In the course of ten years, the proportion of potato cultivation has multiplied to 200,000 hectares and the per capita consumption has risen from 16 kg to 60 kg (an increase of 375%). Cooperation with development aid organizations played a key role in this. With help from Finland, potato fields with access to an irrigation system were planted in the region around the capital Pyongyang in 2000. In cooperation between North Korea and the FAO, special early potato varieties were grown, which are to be grown in the southern and northern mountain regions. Although rice was traditionally preferred to the potato, the potato plays a more important role on the diet of North Koreans than it did a few years ago. The potatoes are usually used to make pasta and pancakes or to make soups.
Soy cultivation
Although the area on which bean sprouts are grown increased steadily from 2008 to 2011, production figures have declined again in the last two years. Since soybeans are an important source of protein, this has major consequences for the North Korean population. The reason for the decline in soy production lies in the artificially low soy prices that prevent farmers from growing soy. With the help of FirstSteps Canada, North Korean factories were supplied with machines that produce soy milk from bean sprouts.
Fruit growing and animal husbandry
Fruit growing
In recent years, the trend in North Korea to grow fruit has increased. A well-known company is the Taedong kolkhoz near the capital Pyongyang and another in Kosan, in the east of the country, with 4000 employees. The cultivation of apple trees should on the one hand stabilize the soil and avert landslides, on the other hand it should also contribute to a more diverse food supply. North Korea is now one of the 20 countries with the world's largest production of apples (just behind Germany and twice as much as South Korea).
Livestock
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Livestock is also playing an increasingly important role in North Korean agriculture and is mainly practiced in the more mountainous regions in the center and east of the country. In addition to keeping goats and cattle, milk is also produced. An example of milk production is the farm in Kubin-Ri, which is run with the help of Swiss aid organizations. The foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2011, which affected a total of 10,000 animals, was a severe blow to North Korean agriculture . According to numerous reports, there are dairy farms and cattle sheds in the vicinity of concentration camps, which are run by the prisoners. The working and living conditions of the prisoners working there are described as inhuman.
Food distribution system
Since the 1950s, the majority of North Koreans got their food through the public distribution system (ÖVS). The ÖVS assumes that farmers in agricultural regions give part of their production to the government, which in turn passes the surplus on to the urban regions, whereby they cannot grow their own food. About 70% of the North Korean population, including the entire urban population, has access to food in this way. Before the flood disasters, the general population was fed 600–700 grams of rice a day, hard workers, soldiers, security personnel and senior officials with 700 to 800 grams of rice. In 2013 a person received an average of 573 grams of cereal per day, but the numbers varied depending on age and occupation. The decline in production affected the amount of food distributed through the distribution system. The shortage was exacerbated by the fact that the North Korean government imposed further sanctions on farmers. When the farmers, who were never supplied by the ÖVS, were commissioned to reduce their own food rations from 167 kilograms to 107 kilograms, the farmers held back a large part of their production. Refugees reported that the ÖVS had to reduce the daily rations from 150 grams (1994) to 30 grams (1997) per day. The ÖVS provided the population with no food at all from April to August 1998 (the so-called lean season) and from May to September 1999. In January 1998 the North Korean government announced that it would no longer distribute rations and that households would have to take care of their own supplies. Since 2005, the ÖVS has only supplied households with around half of the required calorie content. The situation has noticeably improved since 2008 and from 2009 to 2013 an individual received around 400 grams per day, although the rations dropped to 200 grams per day from May to September 2011. It is estimated that in the early 2000s, the average North Korean family was getting 80% of their income from illegal ancillary income. From 2002 and 2010, private sales and markets were legalized. In 2013, city markets were held every ten days. Markets play an increasingly important role in food procurement.
Agricultural structure and agricultural policy in North Korea
Legal basis and types of business
North Korean agriculture is organized in the form of state cooperatives ( kolkhozes ), similar to the former USSR or GDR , and is based on the North Korean Chuch'e ideology . The North Korean constitution defines the North Korean economy as a planned economy and severely restricts private ownership of the means of production. Massive land reforms were carried out in North Korea and existing private property was collectivized as early as the late 1940s. In the Real Estate Disposal Act, land is referred to as state ownership. The official translation says “ The land belongs to the entire people. The state may own land without limit. “The state also has the task of protecting the socialist agricultural model and the cooperatives. However, the primacy of the state in the field of agriculture, as required by the constitution, is no longer completely in line with reality. Since the reforms of recent years, vegetables and fruit have been increasingly grown in allotment gardens and sold in markets. Some farmers also own private fields in addition to the collective fields on which they grow for their own use and for sale. The North Korean farmers, who were usually strongly influenced by the requirements of the central planning authorities, were given more freedom and from 2012 onwards they will be able to sell surpluses (30–40%) on markets. In some cases, aid organizations also provide support to the local population and advise them on how to grow vegetables efficiently in your own garden.
Reasons for Agricultural Stagnation and Government Countermeasures
North Korean agriculture was highly mechanized before the collapse of the Soviet Union and had a very high level of self-sufficiency. But the first signs of economic stagnation and reduced productivity were already evident in the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, coal and energy supplies also collapsed, which literally brought agriculture to a standstill. The following table illustrates the agricultural development in North Korea.
| Arable production | year | requirement | production |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 mt | 100 mt | percent | |
| 1984 | 5303 | 5600 | 105.6% |
| 1988 | 5629 | 5210 | 92.6% |
| 1992 | 5894 | 3898 | 66% |
| 1996 | 6061 | 2447 | 40.4% |
| 1998 | 6311 | 3138 | 49.7% |
The North Korean leadership therefore concentrated on the goals of alternating field cultivation and increased production. Because of the famine, the North Korean leadership experimented with new cultivation methods and crops. In the course of this, more corn and potatoes were grown in North Korea. In the course of the improvement of the agricultural situation, the double cultivation of fields was abolished (planting in summer and winter), which improves the quality of the soil. The North Korean government recently introduced what is known as the 6.28 policy, which gives farmers more freedom. According to some reports, farmers can now freely sell 30% of the yield in the markets. Should further surpluses be recorded, the farmers can freely dispose of them. In addition, the size of the work units in agriculture has been reduced.
Agricultural special development zones
In the last few years, North Korea began to set up special development zones for agriculture in addition to special industrial development zones in Kaesong and Rason. These include the Pukchong and Orang special agricultural development zones. In Pukchong the focus is on apple cultivation, while in Orang agriculture and fishing are practiced. In contrast to the rest of North Korea, private foreign companies can invest in both special economic zones. However, these investments must be made in cooperation with the North Korean state. The aim is to attract foreign capital and gain access to modern technology. The geographical focus of the special zones lies in the triangle of Russia, North Korea and China.
Cooperation with foreign aid organizations
In the early 1990s, the North Korean leadership tried to hide the extent of the famine from the global public and its own people. But when the situation in North Korea became clearer due to the large number of refugees, the North Korean government was forced to admit the serious supply bottlenecks, at least to the global public. From the end of the 1990s, more and more international organizations were working in North Korea, although they were not granted access to all parts of the country. In many cases, the North Korean authorities were responsible for distributing the food themselves. There are currently around twenty to thirty aid organizations working with or in North Korea. In recent years there has been an increased tendency not only to deliver food, but also to help people help themselves. The North Korean farmers are offered training seminars and explain which methods can be used to increase crop yields. Other aid organizations, on the other hand, devote themselves to particularly hard-hit groups of people, such as B. orphans, and provide them with basic food. The Hanns Seidel Foundation , Welthungerhilfe and Bread for the World are among the German organizations .
Typical problems in North Korean agriculture
North Korean agriculture is confronted with a number of partly self-inflicted, partly natural problems. The most serious problems include the consequences of climate change, deforestation and the associated flood and drought catastrophes that afflict North Korea at regular intervals.
Consequences of climate change
Like many other poorer countries, North Korea is particularly hard hit by the consequences of climate change. Global warming has also warmed the climate in North Korea and dry seasons (like in summer 2014) are becoming more frequent and lasting longer. Unusually heavy rains during the monsoons destroy crops and deprive the soil of valuable minerals. At the same time, there are more and more floods.
Deforestation
In addition to climate change, deforestation in large parts of the country is also to blame for the worsening agricultural situation in North Korea. The deforestation of numerous forests in the wake of the lack of raw materials after the collapse of the Soviet Union has led to a deterioration in soil quality in North Korea. Another reason for deforestation was trying to increase the amount of arable land and trying to grow corn on hillsides. The poor hold of the soil, especially in mountainous regions, leads to increased soil erosion. As the nutrient-rich soils are washed away in this way, numerous crop failures and a loss of valuable minerals occur. In addition, deforestation has led to numerous floods and landslides, such as in 1996 in Hwanghaebuk-do. An improvement in the harvest is therefore also related to the afforestation issue.
Lack of fertilizers
Before the Korean War, there were numerous factories in North Korea that produced fertilizer. The production rate was around 300,000 mT. As numerous production facilities had been destroyed as a result of the fighting, it took until the 1970s to restore production to its original level. The increase in fertilizer production led to crop surpluses. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, fertilizer production also suffered severe setbacks due to the energy shortage.
| Fertilizer production | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 1970 | 1975 | 1990 | 1997 |
| Quantity in megatons | 300,000 | 460,000 | 850,000 | 600,000 |
The current fertilizer production is currently half of the demand. Due to the country's chronic financial shortage, North Korea could not import fertilizers and the availability of fertilizers was severely restricted by international sanctions. The South Korean government also stopped delivering fertilizers in 2010. Due to the limited resources, the composition of the fertilizer is very unbalanced. Even if there are many nitrogens, there is often a lack of phosphates and potassium. One-sided nitrogen pollution leads to a deterioration in the quality of the soil and hardly increases the quantity of the harvest, even in the short term.
Low degree of mechanization
In the years after the Korean War, one of the first goals of North Korean agricultural policy was to increase the level of mechanization in agriculture. Indeed, the government managed to increase the number of tractors from 9,000 in 1960 to 75,000 in 1997. The use of machines was adapted to local conditions and smaller machines were used for agriculture in the mountains, while the larger machines were used in the coastal plains. Multipurpose machines were often used to save costs and achieve synergy effects. Due to the persistent energy shortage, however, it was no longer possible to continue using the machines. In addition, more and more spare parts were missing. In addition to the lack of fertilizers, the deficient technical equipment in North Korea also hinders productive agriculture. The machines are - with the exception of some model companies - in very poor condition. The energy supply is most critical, especially in the mountainous regions, in which the use of machines plays a major role. The low level of mechanization is therefore compensated for by the use of students and members of the armed forces during the harvest. Overall, almost over 30% of the population is employed in agriculture. The largest supplier of agricultural technology is the Kŭmsŏng tractor factory .
Irrigation systems
Due to the extreme fluctuations in rainfall, irrigation systems play an important role in agriculture during the dry season. However, the numerous pumping stations are very energy-intensive. Due to the ongoing energy shortage in North Korea and poor maintenance of the pumping stations, the productivity of the irrigation systems is below 50%.
The latest developments within North Korean agriculture and their assessment
The North Korean government has tried in recent years to improve the agricultural framework and to make the best possible use of the conditions. The innovations include efforts to intensify organic farming in North Korea. At the same time, opportunities are to be created for farmers to cultivate privately on private fields and to sell surpluses on markets.
Organic farming
Due to the lack of fertilizer, some experts assume that the North Korean economy uses organic fertilizers with less fertilizer use and higher yields and also produces it itself. Since the early 1990s, the DPRK has intensified its efforts to use waste from animal production as fertilizer. Plant residues are apparently also used for biological fertilizer.
International cooperation in the field of organic farming
In the area of organic farming, there is often cooperation between North Korea and international organizations. One example of such a project is the model collective farm in Pisan-Ri, which is operated in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation . Pisan-Ri is located in Anbyon County, south of Wonsan, and is known as a resting place for cranes on their annual migration to the warmer south, which was very much threatened by environmental degradation. In this project, therefore, not only ecological agriculture, but also biological diversity and the environment should be strengthened. The aim of the project is to preserve biodiversity in the region. The Hanns Seidel Foundation has been cooperating with the International Crane Foundation , Birdlife International and the Agricultural Academy of Sciences in North Korea since 2008 .
Allotment agriculture
The political leadership has tried again and again to use private gardens to grow mushrooms, cabbage etc. in order to overcome the food shortage. According to visitors to North Korea, these recommendations have actually been followed.
Final rating
The new cultivation methods enabled actual increases in yield to be achieved. Potato, rice and corn production have increased, and North Korea has achieved greater levels of self-sufficiency over the past 20 years. It is possible that in this way food imports from China were reduced in 2013 and 2014. However, that does not mean that the food problem in North Korea has been resolved. Malnutrition remains a major problem for North Korea. 30% of the population is still undernourished, and proteins and fats are particularly lacking.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f http://global.bridica.com/EBchecked/topic/322222/North-Korea/34932/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/aq118e/aq118e.pdf
- ↑ http://faostat3.fao.org/browse/rankings/commodities_by_country/E
- ↑ http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/apr09/ancient_corn_solution_to_modern_climate.php
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://38north.org/2013/12/rireson121813/
- ↑ North Korea: Interior Views of a Total State, p. 120
- ↑ http://www.fruitnet.com/asiafruit/article/158701/north-korea-unveils-apple-orchard
- ↑ http://faostat3.fao.org/browse/rankings/commodities_by_country/E .
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.aerztezeitung.de/panorama/article/640752/ausbruch-mks-nordkorea.html
- ↑ North Korea: Exiled to Hell . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1995 ( online - 19 June 1995 ).
- ^ FAO / WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Report). Food and Agriculture Organization / World Food Program. 2013.
- ^ Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , Pyongyang 2014
- ↑ Art. 10; The Land Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea., Pyongyang 1992
- ↑ http://www.nkeconwatch.com/nk-uploads/DPRK-agricultur-Lankov-Kim-Kwak.pdf
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/15/north-korea-farmers-pressure-feed-nation-kim-jong-un
- ↑ a b Woon-Keun, Kim: THE AGRICULTURAL SITUATION OF NORTH KOREA . In: Center for North Korea Agriculture . 10, No. 2, December 1998, pp. 57-72.
- ↑ http://thediplomat.com/2013/05/north-korea-pushes-ahead-on-agricultural-reform/
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated November 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.nkeconwatch.com/category/economic-reform/special-economic-zones-2/economic-development-zones-2013/south-hamgyong-provincial-pukchong-agricultural-development-zone/
- ↑ http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/es- geht-um-die-menschen.1008.de.html?dram:article_id= 164704
- ↑ http://japanfocus.org/-peter-hayes/3233
- ↑ http://www.fftc.agnet.org/htmlarea_file/library/20110726131553/eb475.pdf
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.fftc.agnet.org/htmlarea_file/library/20110726131553/eb475.pdf
- ↑ http://www.nknews.org/2013/05/why-north-korea-places-so-much-emphasis-on-organic-farming/
