The North Korean Cabinet’s Agricultural Commission recently sent amended seasonal agricultural guidance materials to Chagang Province, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Daily NK source in Chagang Province said Monday that the Cabinet’s Agricultural Commission sent the amended materials on Apr. 13 to the province’s agricultural village finance committee, which delivered them to city and county agricultural management committees. “The amendments aim to improve agricultural production and farming efficiency,” he said.
According to the source, the existing materials advised intensive cultivation of a single crop, but the amended ones included instructions to maintain soil quality and boost production by rotating several crops suited to the province’s alpine conditions. It also stressed that local authorities must promote the new instructions as a matter of party policy.
Accordingly, Chagang Province’s agricultural village finance committee ordered changes in crop cultivation per the amended guidance materials, focusing on farms in certain cities and counties. It ordered the selection of crops per conditions on individual farms and the drawing up of substantive and effective farming plans in cooperation with city and country agricultural management committees.
Chagang Province’s agricultural village finance committee also notified local authorities of its educational program to teach farmers modern cultivation techniques. The source said that the committee has rushed to design an educational program that would enable farmers to learn new farming methods and immediately use them based on the amended seasonal agricultural guidance materials.
Along with the amended guidance materials, the provincial agricultural village finance committee also sent instructions on how to cope with climate change to city and county agricultural management committees. “The province stressed the importance of choosing crops and adjusting cultivation periods considering inconstant precipitation and soil quality due to climate change,” the source said.
“Officials on Chagang Province’s agricultural village finance committee believe the Cabinet’s Agricultural Committee sent amended agricultural guidance materials specifically to Chagang Province to raise agricultural production as much as possible by using agricultural methods that reflect the local alpine climate conditions and the many terraced fields in the region,” the source said.
“The province is promoting the amended agricultural guidance materials as a special policy measure by the party and state so that Chagang Province — home to many munition industries — can become self-sufficient in agricultural production,” he said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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April 25, 2024 at 12:30PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)