Agriculture in North Korea

North Korean farmers in a field.
A North Korean farm, 2008.
The Hungju Chicken Farm, 2007.
A tractor in North Korea.
Crops growing in North Pyongan, DPRK.
Food grown in the private gardens surrounding people's homes.

Farming in North Korea 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.[1] A narrow strip of similarly fertile land runs through the eastern seaboard Hamgyŏng provinces and Kangwŏn Province.[1]

The interior provinces of Chagang and Ryanggang are too mountainous, cold, and dry to allow much farming.[1] 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.[1]

Major crops include rice and potatoes. 23.4% of North Korea's labor force worked in agriculture in 2012.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference FAO-WFP-2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "CIA World Factbook (2012 estimate)". Cia.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2015.