Editing Economy of North Korea (section)

====Agriculture====
{{Main|Agriculture in North Korea}}

[[File: DPRK rice.jpg|thumb|Crops growing in North Korea]]

North Korea's sparse agricultural resources limit agricultural production. Climate, terrain, and soil conditions are not particularly favorable for farming,<ref name="Savada1994"/> with a relatively short cropping season. Only about 17% of the total landmass, or approximately {{convert|2000000|ha|km2|disp=output only}}, is arable, of which {{convert|1400000|ha|km2|disp=output only}} is well suited for cereal cultivation;<ref name="FAO-WFP-2013"/> the major portion of the country is rugged mountain terrain.<ref name="Savada1994"/>

The weather varies markedly according to elevation, and lack of precipitation, along with infertile soil, makes land at elevations higher than 400 meters unsuitable for purposes other than grazing. Precipitation is geographically and seasonally irregular, and in most parts of the country as much as half the annual rainfall occurs in the three summer months. This pattern favors the cultivation of paddy rice in warmer regions that are outfitted with irrigation and flood control networks.<ref name="Savada1994"/> Rice yields are 5.3 tonnes per hectare, close to international norms.<ref name="38north-20131218"/> In 2005, North Korea was ranked by the [[FAO]] as an estimated 10th in the production of fresh fruit<ref name="FAO-2005-619">{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?lang=en&item=619&year=2005 |title=Major Food and Agricultural Commodities and Producer: Countries by commodity |year=2005 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] |access-date=April 8, 2022 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805235547/http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?lang=en&item=619&year=2005 |archive-date=August 5, 2009 }}</ref> and as an estimated 19th in the production of [[apple]]s.<ref name="FAO-2005-515">{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?item=515&lang=en&year=2005 |title=Major Food and Agricultural Commodities and Producer: Countries by commodity |year=2005 |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] |access-date=April 8, 2022 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313171151/http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?item=515&lang=en&year=2005 |archive-date=March 13, 2009 }}</ref>

Farming is concentrated in the flatlands of the four west coast provinces, where a longer growing season, level land, adequate rainfall, and good irrigated soil permit the most intensive cultivation of crops. A narrow strip of similarly fertile land runs through the eastern seaboard [[Hamgyŏng]] provinces and [[Kangwon Province (North Korea)|Kangwŏn]] Province, but the interior provinces of [[Chagang]] and [[Ryanggang]] are too mountainous, cold, and dry to allow much farming. The mountains contain the bulk of North Korea's forest reserves while the foothills within and between the major agricultural regions provide lands for livestock grazing and fruit tree cultivation.<ref name="Savada1994"/>

Since self-sufficiency remains an important pillar of North Korean ideology, self-sufficiency in food production is deemed a worthy goal. Another aim of government policies—to reduce the gap between urban and rural living standards—requires continued investment in the agricultural sector. The stability of the country depends on steady, if not rapid, increases in the availability of food items at reasonable prices. In the early 1990s, there were severe food shortages.<ref name="Savada1994"/><ref name="undp.org">United Nations Development Program, Millennium Development Goals and the DPRK, retrieved October 21, 21, 2011, {{cite web|url=http://www.undp.org/dprk/mdgs.shtml |title=Millennium Development Goals and the DPRK |access-date=May 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201032637/http://www.undp.org/dprk/mdgs.shtml |archive-date=December 1, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite report |last1=Woo-Cumings |first1=Meredith |title=The Political Ecology of Famine: The North Korean Catastrophe and Its Lessons |date=2002 |hdl=10419/111123 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:North Korea tractor.jpg|left|thumb|A tractor in North Korea]]
The most far-reaching statement on agricultural policy is embodied in Kim Il Sung's 1964 ''[[Theses on the Socialist Agrarian Question in Our Country]]'', which underscores the government's concern for agricultural development.<ref>{{cite book|last=Josephson |first=Paul R. |title=Would Trotsky Wear a Bluetooth?: Technological Utopianism under Socialism, 1917–1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOvHOUziXSAC&pg=PA143 |date=December 25, 2009 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=978-0-8018-9841-9 |page=143 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225095658/https://books.google.com/books?id=rOvHOUziXSAC&pg=PA143 |archive-date=February 25, 2017 }}</ref> Kim emphasized technological and educational progress in the countryside as well as collective forms of ownership and management. As industrialization progressed, the share of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in the total national output declined from 63.5% and 31.4%, respectively, in 1945 and 1946, to a low of 26.8% in 1990. Their share in the labor force also declined from 57.6% in 1960 to 34.4% in 1989.<ref name="Savada1994"/>

In the 1990s, the decreasing ability to carry out mechanized operations (including the pumping of water for irrigation), as well as lack of chemical inputs, was clearly contributing to reduced yields and increased harvesting and post-harvest losses.<ref name="FAO-WFP-2013"/>

Incremental improvements in agricultural production have been made since the late 1990s, bringing North Korea close to self-sufficiency in [[staple food]]s by 2013. In particular, rice yields have steadily improved, though yields on other crops have generally not improved. The production of protein foods remains inadequate. Access to chemical fertilizer has declined, but the use of compost and other organic fertilizer has been encouraged.<ref name="FAO-WFP-2013">{{cite report|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/aq118e/aq118e.pdf |title=FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization/World Food Programme |year=2013 |access-date=January 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107145549/http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/aq118e/aq118e.pdf |archive-date=January 7, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="38north-20131218">{{cite news|url=http://38north.org/2013/12/rireson121813/ |title=The State of North Korean Farming: New Information from the UN Crop Assessment Report |author=Randall Ireson |publisher=U.S.–Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies |work=[[38 North]] |date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=January 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710015244/http://38north.org/2013/12/rireson121813/ |archive-date=July 10, 2014 }}</ref>