North Korea’s Kim Jong-un sounds alarm on agriculture amid reports of food shortages

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has urged government officials to engineer a “fundamental transformation” in agricultural production, state media reported, amid fears that the country’s food shortage is worsening.

Kim said hitting grain production targets this year was a priority and emphasised the importance of stable agriculture production during the second day of a key meeting of the Workers’ party, the state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday.

The report did not elaborate on what measures North Korea would take, but Kim said the changes needed to happen in the next few years.

Kim’s remark comes amid reports of growing food shortages in the country, though North Korea has denied suggestions that it cannot provide for its citizens.

Collective farms account for the vast majority of North Korea’s agriculture, according to researchers. Such farms typically host multiple small farmers who produce crops with joint labour.

Earlier this month, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the food situation in the North “seemed to have deteriorated”.

The ministry said at the time that it was rare for North Korea to announce a special meeting on agriculture strategy, which was slated for late February.

Kim Jong-un attends the 7th enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Sunday. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters

In his address at Monday’s meeting, KCNA said Kim mentioned the “importance of the growth of the agricultural productive forces” in ensuring socialist construction.

North Korea is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and its economy has been further strained by strict self-imposed border lockdowns aimed at stopping Covid-19 outbreaks.

The full extent of the food shortages in North Korea is unclear, but in a January report, the US-based monitoring project 38 North said that food insecurity was at its worst since famines that devastated the country in the 1990s.

“Food availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs,” the report said.

North Korea’s pursuit of self-sufficiency means almost all its grain is produced domestically, but that has left the country vulnerable, 38 North found.

“Achieving adequate agricultural output in North Korea’s unfavourable soils has, ironically, generated a heavy reliance on imported goods and left the country exposed to global shocks, diplomatic conflicts, and adverse weather,” the report said.

The long-term solution to the problems lies partly in resolving the standoff over nuclear weapons and sanctions, but also requires economic reforms.

The initiation of domestic economic reforms would unshackle North Korea’s productive capacity and allow it to export industrial products and tradable services, earn foreign exchange and import bulk grains on a commercially sustainable basis, 38 North said.