Last Year's Heavy Rainfall Causes 0.8% Decrease in North Korea's Rice Cultivation Area... 74% of South Korea's Level

Last year, North Korea's rice cultivation area slightly decreased.

It is analyzed that a combination of factors such as heavy rains in spring and autumn, worsening weather conditions, and restrictions on the movement of residents and military units due to COVID-19 led to a reduction in cultivation support personnel.

According to the "2022 North Korea Rice Cultivation Area Survey" released by the Statistics Korea on the 28th, North Korea's rice cultivation area last year was 539,679 hectares (ha), a 0.8% (4,327 ha) decrease compared to the previous year.

The Statistics Korea stated, "The rice cultivation area significantly decreased due to heavy rains in the previous year, and shortages of fertilizer and agricultural machinery caused by COVID-19 impacts and disruptions in North Korea-China trade appear to have influenced this."

However, by region, Hamgyongbuk-do (1.9%), Yanggang-do (1.0%), and Jagang-do (0.6%) saw slight increases in cultivation area due to a base effect from the heavy rain damage in 2021.

The largest rice cultivation area was in Hwanghaenam-do (140,098 ha), accounting for 26.0% of the total area. This was followed by Pyeonganbuk-do (102,965 ha; 19.1%) and Pyeongannam-do (78,660 ha; 14.6%).

North Korea's rice cultivation area is about 74.2% of South Korea's (727,158 ha).

Meanwhile, this survey analyzed satellite images of North Korea taken from May to September last year through visual interpretation.

Statistics Korea has been publishing North Korea's rice cultivation area since 2020 to meet the increasing demand for North Korean statistics and to use it as basic data for agricultural policies toward North Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.