North Hwanghae Province mobilizes locals for “irrigation struggle” to prevent drought damage to crops
A source in North Hwanghae Province told Daily NK on Monday that crops such as corn were drying up and dying in their terraced fields due to the heat. “Within the province, the authorities are calling for efforts to prevent drought damage and fully mobilizing residents for an irrigation struggle, feeling they couldn’t just sit on their hands and fill out reports,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, the provincial agricultural management committee held an onsite emergency meeting last Friday. With more and more corn burning or drying up due to drought amid the continued heat wave, the authorities issued an appeal for the province to come together to fight this, even if it meant “dropping all other efforts.”
From last Friday, provincial authorities have been assigning farms to local organizations, government bodies, and schools, and have been fully mobilizing locals into irrigation efforts into two shifts, from 4 AM to 7 AM and from 6 PM to 8 PM.
The source said everyone “from 11-year-old children to 60-year-old elderly people” are taking part in the watering effort, “basin and bucket in hand.” “Powerful government bodies are struggling to prevent damage [to the fields by the drought], watering the fields using water tanks attached to trucks,” he said. ......
[Source: Daily NK]
