Anticipated Weather and Problems Arising in Agricultural Production

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said as follows:

“The most important task facing the agricultural sector today is to boost agricultural production decisively by farming well.”

Disastrous weather is becoming increasingly severe.

Just looking at August 25, heavy rain accompanied by torrential downpours of over 110 mm fell in several areas of the country, including Kangdong County, and such abnormal climate phenomena are expected to continue.

According to a notification from the State Hydro-Meteorological Administration, from August 28 to September 1, our country will be affected by the seasonal rain front and a trough of low pressure.

It is forecast that on August 28-29, heavy rain accompanied by torrential downpours will fall in several areas, centering on the Chongchon River basin.

It is reported that from August 30 to September 1, heavy rain accompanied by torrential downpours will fall in several areas of Pyongyang City, South and North Phyongan Provinces, North Hwanghae Province, the inland areas of Kangwon Province, and Nampo City, centering on the Taedong River basin.

The reality demands that all officials and workers in the agricultural sector continue to display a high sense of responsibility in the struggle to prevent natural disasters.

It is an urgent task to establish thorough preventive measures so that farmland and crops are not submerged. Of course, maintenance work on water conduits, drainage channels, and rice paddy ridges was already carried out beforehand. However, we must not let our guard down and must re-examine section by section whether there are any overlooked or inadequate points. Once shortcomings are discovered, they must be eradicated immediately.

We must also not neglect the work of comprehensively re-examining and reconfirming the technical state of drainage sluices, drainage gates, and drainage pumping equipment, quickly eliminating insufficient elements to ensure normal operation without any hindrance.

It is important to minimize damage by promptly carrying out water drainage and launching projects to boost crop growth, such as leaf washing, fungicide application, and nutrient solution feeding, in case unexpected heavy rain falls and farmland or crops are submerged.

Whether this year's farming yields results or not depends on whether precious farmland and crops are safely protected from the ravages of nature.

Officials must do their best to ensure not a single pyòng of land or a single stalk of grain is damaged, with the resolve to take full responsibility for the farming in their region and their unit.

Agricultural workers must also regard each and every stalk of crops as their own flesh and blood and display a high sense of responsibility in projects for their protection.

A moment of carelessness and laxity will lead to irreversible consequences.

All officials and workers in the agricultural sector must fight vigorously to prevent natural disasters with maximum vigilance, thereby providing a reliable guarantee for the occupation of this year's grain height.

Reporter Pak Chol

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Activities of the scientific farming promotion teams are actively underway across all fields to minimize crop damage in response to disastrous weather.

The promotion teams conducted long-distance technical consultations related to preventing pest damage in rice paddies and prepared and distributed crop growth forecasts to farms across the country, which outline scientific measures for water and fertilizer management based on satellite imagery and crop growth survey data.

Officials and researchers from the Academy of Agricultural Science are being dispatched to areas that experienced torrential rain and heavy downpours to take practical measures, such as preventing pest outbreaks and enhancing root activity.

The role of the scientific farming promotion teams dispatched to provinces, cities, and counties is being exceptionally strengthened.

The scientific farming promotion team dispatched to South Hwanghae Province substantially conducted on-site technical lectures and technical short courses handling scientific and technological issues arising in water and fertilizer management during the latter half of rice growth for tens of thousands of field technical officials and farm members, including primary officials of the Upp Farm in Chongdan County.

The scientific farming promotion team dispatched to North Hamgyong Province is responsibly providing scientific and technical guidance for the effective application of agricultural sci-tech products, including phytosine, multi-element mineral fertilizer, and insecticides, in connection with officials of city and county agricultural guidance organs, thus proactively creating a guarantee for increasing grain output.

In Jagang Province, members of the scientific farming promotion teams are going out to cities and counties to conduct on-site technical lectures to disseminate technical issues arising in minimizing crop damage caused by torrential rain and heavy downpours, while also carrying out projects to teach methods enabling farms to establish their own preventive measures.

In North Phyongan Province, too, members of the scientific farming promotion teams are nimbly establishing effective methods on-site for the scientific application of fungicides and for creating conditions favorable for crop growth.

Furthermore, in several regions, scientific and technical guidance is being well provided for introducing fungicides and nutrients suited to the characteristics of the crops.

With high confidence to strengthen in every way the pivotal role of science and technology in decisively occupying the grain height presented by the Party this year, the scientific farming promotion teams are devoting their heart and soul to minimizing crop damage.

Reporter Pak Hyon

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The agricultural sector is concentrating efforts and means on minimizing damage caused by torrential rain and heavy downpours.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said as follows:

“We must thoroughly establish measures to prevent various accidents and natural disasters.”

Various localities are grasping farmland inundation prevention as the key link and devising emergency measures.

South Phyongan Province is courageously waging the struggle to cope with the ravages of nature.

The province is conducting follow-up surveys on the state of disaster prevention work to date, identifying weak links, and establishing immediate countermeasures. Officials are urgently dispatched to coastal areas to comprehensively re-examine the state of coastal embankments and ensure reinforcement work is carried out in a timely manner. Full preparations are made to urgently mobilize necessary forces and means should a situation arise, and the concerned personnel are made to perform their monitoring duties more responsibly.

Work is being promoted to re-examine the solidity of coastal embankments and the water containment capacity of major rivers section by section, identifying and eradicating all dangerous spots without omission. Provincial officials who went to the concerned areas are confirming the state of rivers on-site and concentrating labor and mechanical equipment on embankment sections requiring reinforcement to complete construction on time. Agricultural workers are striving with all their might to find and eliminate all insufficient points in their assigned embankment sections. They are especially responsible for their tasks to ensure there are no shortcomings in the embankments at confluence points.

Officials and workers in the agricultural sector of North Phyongan Province are establishing emergency measures with the resolve not to abandon even a single pyòng of land or a single stalk of grain to the whims of nature.

To prevent farmland inundation, officials are frequently checking the operating state of hoisting equipment for reservoir floodgates and drainage gates, and drainage pumping equipment, ensuring no hindrance to power and communications guarantee. Necessary measures are taken to enhance the water flow capacity of channels, and deep attention is also paid to enhancing the role of paddy water management workers. Currently, the province is regulating reservoir water levels based on real-time measured data and continuing to exert efforts to ensure the safety of channel embankments and structures.

Officials and workers in the agricultural sector of Jagang Province are also taking timely measures to enable a swift response to unexpected situations. The province is awakening and arousing officials of cities, counties, and farms through video conferences, continually raising demands to ensure not even the smallest space or gap in farmland protection projects. Appropriate attention is being paid to erosion control projects suited to the province's mountainous conditions. This project is being carried out focusing on reinforcement work for insufficient sections and ensuring the solidity of structures built in previous periods.

Farms are re-examining the state of drainage channel maintenance to ensure no inadequacies. In mountainous farms, ditch widths are being widened to prevent alluvial land from being buried or washed away by rainwater.

Projects to improve crop growth are also being vigorously launched in various localities.

In South Hwanghae Province, efforts are being devoted to crop water and fertilizer management in response to frequent heavy rain and decreased sunlight penetration rates which reduce photosynthetic capacity.

Farms are investigating the growth state of rice paddy by paddy field, organizing additional leaf fertilizer application. Paddy water depth is being rationally regulated, blight damage forecast and warning projects are being strengthened to prevent disease damage in advance, and nutrient management is being carefully carried out to promote ear nourishment.

Officials and workers in the agricultural sector of other regions, including North Hwanghae Province and South Hamgyong Province, are also maintaining maximum alertness, anticipating even extreme situations, and ensuring complete preparedness in protecting farmland and crops.

Written by Reporter Chon Myong Il

Photos by Reporter Ju Dae Hyok

Special Correspondent Chong Ryu Chol

At the Oryu Vegetable Farm in Sadong District
At the Sariwon City Irrigation Management Office

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On the major battlefronts of socialist construction, where the all-people general advance toward the grand festival site of October is further accelerating, artists of the Mansudae Art Troupe are vigorously sounding the drumbeats of economic agitation.

The concentrated economic agitation performances by the Mansudae Art Troupe, conducted at major object construction sites, factories, and enterprises in South Hamgyong Province, inspired and elevated the creative zeal of the working class of the industrial province, oriented toward the fulfillment of the decisions of the Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee.

After raising the first curtain of their performance at the construction site of the Jongphyong County Comprehensive Service Center, an honorable battlefront for realizing the long-cherished desire of our Party, the artists toured the battlefronts of the local industry revolution, including the construction site of a local industry factory in Sinpho City, amplifying the actual effect of the wildfire-like economic agitation.

Songs such as the mixed chorus "Beloved Parent," male solo "The Fate of My Country and Me," and male quartet "My Powerful Mother Country" added to the people's hope, confidence, and enthusiasm for a new life and new happiness, and the spiritual strength of the masses advancing powerfully under the leadership of the Party Central.

At the production sites of the Ryongsong Machine Complex, where the spirit of the new era Chollima was created, and the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex, the artists passionately sang songs including "We Are Koreans" and "May the Country Prosper," fervently appealing to strive more boldly, more substantially, and more tensely to successfully achieve the goals set with determination before the Party.

The economic agitation performances, which possessed great ideological and artistic value and power of influence, conducted at the Hamhung Honorary Army Personnel Daily Necessities Factory and the Hamhung Knitwear Factory, where the Party's leadership achievements are fervently inscribed, also evoked an active response.

Singing along to famous songs of the era overflowing with ardent love for the country and the pride of a people of a powerful nation, officials and workers in Hamhung City, Sinpho City, and Ragwon County strengthened their resolve to create new miracles and feats of heroism with unflagging passion and bold exertions at each sentry post and workplace entrusted to them.

The concentrated economic agitation performances by the artists of the Mansudae Art Troupe in South Hamgyong Province became a significant occasion that doubled the revolutionary and fighting zeal of officials, workers, and soldier-builders who are preparing to welcome the Party's 9th Congress as a congress of victors and glory, faithfully upholding the leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and the might of science and technology.

[Korean Central News Agency]

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Wives of thousands of officials in Ryanggang Province are powerfully conducting wildfire-like economic agitation and labor support on every battlefront within the province for the implementation of Party decisions.

For several dozen days since early July, members of the Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee and their wives went out for grass-cutting work every early dawn. Responding to this, officials and their families from various departments of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee, as well as families of executive committee members of city and county party committees, also rallied forth. This contributed significantly to producing a great amount of grass fertilizer provincially.

Members of the Provincial Party Officials' Family Economic Agitation Team toured major battlefronts within the province, including the newly rising local industry factory construction site, rural housing construction site, and the Junghung Farm in Samjiyon City in Kim Jong Suk County, powerfully conducting wildfire-like economic agitation and support work in both material and spiritual aspects, thereby heightening the masses' enthusiasm.

Wives of officials of city-level institutions, including the Samjiyon City Party Committee, are overflowing with fiery enthusiasm to bring in a high yield in this year's potato farming, shedding patriotic beads of sweat in the fields alongside farm members, while wives of county party officials working in a certain workteam of a farm in Phungso County are also actively devoting themselves to the farming tasks at hand.

Families of county party officials in Samsu County achieved successes in building a mother plant nursery and producing good species of tree seedlings, including pine nuts. Wives of officials of the County People's Committee and the County Agricultural Management Committee are also sparing no clean conscience and sincere sweat in the construction of vegetable greenhouses and road management, fiercely conducting economic agitation everywhere to powerfully rally the officials and workers within the county to the struggle for defending Party policy.

Families of officials of county-level institutions in other regions, including Kim Jong Suk County and Pochon County, are also rushing out to farm fields and rural housing construction sites with hearts of loyalty and patriotism, successively achieving innovative results while finding the value and happiness of life on the road to implementing Party policy.

Special Correspondent

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Comrade Pak Won Ok, principal of Haewon Elementary School in Haeju City, is a socialist patriotic merit person who is sincerely dedicating herself for the soldiers of a certain hero artillery company guarding a post on the forefront.

There is a story behind her forming a connection with the soldiers at the post. About ten years ago, when she heard the news that the respected General Secretary had inspected People's Army military units located in the Southwest Frontline area, her thoughts deepened.

"I have sung many songs of gratitude for the respected General Secretary, but what have I actually done to lessen his worries?"

It was from that moment that her path of support for the soldiers at the post began.

There was also such an incident in those days. A few years ago, when the school's teaching staff embarked on a study tour of the revolutionary battle sites in the Paektu Mountain area, they saw Comrade Pak Won Ok preparing numerous bags.

To them, who did not understand, Comrade Pak Won Ok revealed her heart, saying she intends to fill these bags with soil from Paektu Mountain and send them to the soldiers, asking how much strength that would give them.

A few days later, those soil bags were delivered to the soldiers at the post.

It is said that the soldiers, engraving her earnest request to become one-as-a-hundred soldiers, fully armed with the revolutionary spirit of Paektu, strengthened their resolve to defend the post of national defense at the risk of their lives.

Comrade Pak Won Ok's appearance, preparing various equipment necessary for greenhouse construction to improve soldiers' living conditions and sending letters of consolation, remains unchanged yesterday and today.

The soldiers at the post affectionately call her "Our Mother."

Reporter Kang Kum Song

In the home of Comrade Han Man Song, who works at the Puljangshik Management Office in Tonghungsan District, Hamhung City, there is a "Our Family's Support Diary."

In that diary, used for decades, all sorts of incidents from the path of support are recorded.

His grandfather would actively support his children setting out on the path of support, saying that without the People's Army, we could not even think of the happiness we enjoy today.

Inheriting his grandfather's will, his father, who formed ties of kinship with soldiers and walked the path of support, is said to have carefully created the "Our Family's Support Diary" after participating in the National Meeting of Activists in the Support Tradition and having a commemorative photo taken with the great General, filling it with the heart to continue walking the path of support through generations to the end.

And reflecting their clean conscience upon it, they walked the path of patriotism unwaveringly.

With the passing years, the support diary grew thicker day by day, and before one knew it, Comrade Han Man Song became the protagonist of that diary.

Comrade Han Man Song has walked the path of support steadfastly, recalling the voices of his grandfather and father who said that only when the country exists can there be family happiness.

The "Our Family's Support Diary" is a record of patriotism of a family that has dedicated everything to supporting the People's Army through generations.

Even now, Comrade Han Man Song regards the "Our Family's Support Diary" as his family's unparalleled treasure and, together with his family, is devoting all his sincerity to the support work.

Ri Su Yon

Some thirty years have already passed since Comrade Kim Yong Rok, head of the livestock workteam at the Komyang Farm in Kwaksan County, began walking the path of support.

If so, with what heart does he walk this path unwaveringly even today, with white frost on his head?

His father was a war veteran who fought bleeding on Height 1211. His father would always say, whenever he had the chance, that for the country to be strong, above all else, the army must be powerful, and he sent all eight of his children to the posts of national defense.

Engraving his father's story deep in his heart as an instruction for the succeeding generation, he began walking the path of support not long after being discharged from the army and starting a family. His wife, understanding her husband's heart, also followed him. Raising many livestock was not without one or two difficulties and obstacles, but each time, he recalled his father's instruction and vigorously expanded livestock farming.

Even during the period of the Arduous March and forced march, they devoted all their clean sincerity to the work of supporting the People's Army.

They also sent their children, who had graduated from middle school, to the posts of national defense, and thereafter expanded the support work on an even larger scale.

Our Party has held up Comrade Kim Yong Rok, who possesses the sublime view of life that only when the country is firm can the family be firm and has continued the path of support for many years, as a model activist in the support tradition for the entire country to know.

Reporter Kim Il Kyong