North Korean farm cooperatives are struggling to find fertilisers, seeds and farm equipment. Those that have entered into cooperative arrangements with Chinese companies survive. About 35 per cent of collective farms in North Hamgyong province have done so. Others are looking for partners.
Beijing (AsiaNews/RFA) – Cooperative farms in North Korea’s northernmost provinces are facing increasing difficulties in obtaining fertilisers, seed, and equipment, with the most successful among them helped only by investments from China, sources told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Almost 35 per cent of the collective farms operating in the country’s North Hamgyong province have now entered cooperative arrangements with Chinese companies.
“Most of the North Korean farms have no funds to buy fertilisers, pesticides, or equipment,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Chinese firms first provide them with these things, and the farms pay them back with crops in the fall”.
Many farms cultivate crops requested by their Chinese investors as a first priority, “but they also have to grow other crops in order to meet the production requirements set by the North Korean government,” the source added. “To do this, they use materials and equipment purchased with Chinese money,” he said.
Crops of red beans are particularly desired by Chinese investors, since these can be sold at a profit in China. “Red beans can be sold at high prices in the fall, so the Chinese investors will probably make profits of about three times the amount of money they invested,” he explained.
Many seek help
Collaboration between the North Korean Gwanmobong firm and the Chinese firm Tianxiazhiben has been especially productive. “There are other Chinese agricultural centres and companies in Yenji, Shenyang, and Beijing investing in North Korean farms in similar ways,” the source said.
Many farms in North Hamgyong’s Hoeryong city and Musan County are now actively seeking investments from China, a second source in the province said. “The key to success in a year’s farming is to secure investment from China,” the source explained.
“The Chinese company Tianxiazhiben not only provides seeds, fertiliser, and equipment for farming, but also instant noodles for the farmers,” he added. “Farms that have already acquired investment from China are set to go.”