Four years ago, Kim Jong Un introduced agricultural reform measures, one component of which involves the individual management of plots. However, at present, residents complain that farming equipment and manure provisions are insufficient, and the quota demands absurdly high.
When the measures were laid out, it was announced that cooperative farms would be divided into smaller “pojeon,” managed by 3-5 farmers apiece. Before the reform measures, the farms were divided into much larger "bunjo" units, consisting of 10-25 people. After the harvest, each unit is responsible for providing a set proportion of the yield to the authorities. The rest, according to the reforms, should be the property of the workers.
This is not how things have played out in practice. Although food production is up in North Korea, the authorities still grab as much of the yield as they please, and some of the measures have even become a means to exploit the workers.
A defector who goes by the name Mrs. Han offered invaluable insight to the problems pervading the new system at a recent event hosted by the North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity group (NKIS) in Seoul. “When the pojeon system was first introduced, rural residents were singing its praises, thinking to themselves, ‘We’re finally going to be able to make a living.’ But when the system was actually implemented, the vast majority of the yield went to the state, leaving very little behind for the farmers who worked the land. That turn of events was deeply dispiriting for the workers,” said Mrs. Han, formerly the manager of the TaeHong Country Cooperative Farm in Ryanggang Province before she defected last October.
