Conservation agriculture (CA) and double cropping (DC) can help to alleviate the recurring severe drought situation that is affecting food security in DPR Korea because CA technologies require less water for crop production.

Wheat, barley, rice, maize, soybean and potatoes planted under conservation agriculture cope better during the drought season because the crop covers planted using CA technology help in maintaining the soil moisture content. The legume crops provide a living cover but also have the ability to fix nitrogen from the air into the soil to improve soil fertility.

Introduction of CA technologies therefore provides opportunities for DPR Korea to adopt climate resilient agriculture practices. The CA technologies also use available fuels more efficiently and reduce the layover time between harvesting of the first crop (winter crop) and planting of the second crop which is crucial as any single day that the second crop is planted earlier will increase its performance and yield.

In 2011, the CA and DC technologies were introduced by FAO in DPR Korea under the project, The Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security through Conservation Agriculture and Double Cropping.

Using agriculture equipment provided by FAO, direct seeding technologies are applied to unploughed soils or into the fields where the first crop has just been harvested. Josef Kienzle, the Lead Technical Unit Officer says that besides being very labour intensive, ploughing uses a lot of farm power and fuel. Ploughing also grinds the soil and exposes it to wind and intense sunshine and subsequently makes it prone to surface erosion.

“When you plough, - especially in times of drought, the soil dries very fast because ploughing causes soil to lose water. But without ploughing, the soil is protected and the moisture content can be preserved for a longer time and the plants can cope better with drought spells such as the present spring drought. The introduced soil cover protects soil from the sun and keeps it at lower temperature levels with far less moisture evaporation levels,” Kienzle says.

One of the CA technologies in rice, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), reduces water use because it requires less or no permanent flooding of the paddy fields. This helps the rice plants to develop better root systems with subsequent higher yields. Technologies for harvesting and transport also reduce losses at harvest and post-harvest stages, thereby enhancing food production.

“For rice, we introduced SRI whereby we plant rice with wider spacing and with fewer seedlings per pot. It is possible to grow this rice with less flooding. This is a crucial innovation in the context of drought because it uses less water”, Kienzle says.

It is therefore important that CA and DC technologies are introduced to more farms to provide drought exposed vulnerable communities more options and strategies to combat the impact of climate change in the wake of much needed food production.

It is obvious that the DPR Korea continues to face challenges to feed its growing population. Crop yields are already lower than regional averages, while pre and post-harvest losses account for an estimated 15 percent reduction of food production.

DPR Korea state news agency KCNA reports of the worst drought in 100 years that has dried up 80 percent and 58 percent of transplanted rice fields in the food baskets of South Hwanghae and North Hwanghae respectively.

The State News of DPR Korea also reports of an “Urgent‟ push for agriculture in view of looming food shortages. CA addresses concerns for winter wheat, spring barley, paddy rice, maize, soybean and potatoes. DC enables planting of two crops on the same piece of land in two seasons of spring and summer.

Winter wheat and barley is planted in October and November and harvested in June, followed by the second crop of rice and soya bean making it possible to have two harvests per year instead of one. 

The technologies were introduced on five farms of Budok, Kasan, Munjang, Seanal and Ryongam farms. All five farms have increased the land under conservation and double cropping from 60 to 100 hectares. Crop yields have also increased in CA based fields compared to the conventional systems.

In 2014, rice yields on areas under CA on Munjang Farm, Kwaksan County, South Hwanghae increased to 7.8 tonnes per hectare compared to 6 tonnes per hectare on areas under traditional planting.

Fuel saved with no-tillage is used to operate water pumps for the irrigation of the paddy fields. Direct seeding using seed drills saves hand labour which usually requires the participation of everyone including students, elderly, academics, office workers and urban women.

However two of the five farms, Budok farm, Kasan Farm, are clearly affected by the current drought spell. At Budok farm, traditional paddy rice fields that were just planted could not be flooded and the rice seedlings were severely stressed from drought. The lack of electricity to power the irrigation pumps exacerbates the looming disaster.

“In this situation when farms are forced to adapt to rain-fed systems due to power shortages, CA and SRI system has obvious advantages by enhancing the capacity of soils to better cope with drought stress,” says Josef Kienzle of FAO.