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In Pictures: Growing food in North Korea

Chronically short on food, the communist country is attempting to produce more but has a long way to go.

North Koreans harvesting rice.
North Koreans harvesting rice.
By 
Miguel Toran
2 Nov 2014
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Sariwon, North Korea – Food production has historically been a challenge for the North Korean government, and since the devastating famine that hit the country in the 1990s it has focused on increasing output of grains and some proteins.

Al Jazeera visited the Migok Cooperative Farm that is considered a model for the country, where more than 1,700 farmers work 750 hectares of land. Officials said new tractors were being deployed, and the country is now producing its own fertiliser.

However, even though North Korea has gotten better at feeding its people, many challenges lie ahead. The World Food Programme says 40 percent of mothers and children are chronically undernourished, with most children lacking Vitamin C and calcium.

In order to give people incentive to farm, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s government is now allowing people to sell extra produce that they grow at local markets, a practice that was previously forbidden. Kim’s grandfather and founder of North Korea – Kim Il Sung – developed the agricultural system in 1946 by turning private farms under colonial Japanese rule into collective operations. 

While the government is focusing on improving food production, it has a long way to go in intensifying agriculture activities to a level that would allow the country to cut its deep dependency on international food aid.

 


RELATED: N Korea’s ‘successful face’ of agriculture 



A North Korean farmer checks his cabbage crop that will be used to make kimchi, spicy pickled cabbage.
A North Korean farmer checks his cabbage crop that will be used to make kimchi, spicy pickled cabbage.
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A farmer relaxes on top of a straw pile.
A farmer relaxes on top of a straw pile.
A student walks home after classes in the countryside near Kaesong, a city in North Hwanghae province.
A student walks home after classes in the countryside near Kaesong, a city in North Hwanghae province.
A propaganda poster seen in the middle of a cabbage field.
A propaganda poster seen in the middle of a cabbage field.
A harvested paddy field.
A harvested paddy field.
North Koreans stand next to a cabbage field.
North Koreans stand next to a cabbage field.
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North Korean soldiers travel on the back of a lorry carrying cabbages.
North Korean soldiers travel on the back of a lorry carrying cabbages.
North Korean farmers transporting grain on a small tractor.
North Korean farmers transporting grain on a small tractor.
Cabbage crops in a rural area near Kaesong.
Cabbage crops in a rural area near Kaesong.
A woman rides her bicycle on a rural road in central North Korea.
A woman rides her bicycle on a rural road in central North Korea.
A cooperative farm on the outskirts of Pyongyang.
A cooperative farm on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

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