North Korean authorities have been urging

collective farm laborers to engage in “field tilling battles” in time for the

farming season, but workers are struggling with broken machinery and lack of

support from the state, Daily NK has learned.

“Spring

farming season has brought with it the ‘tilling battle’ but most equipment

required for the project is non-functional; there aren’t even enough cows, which has made for horrible conditions at collective farms,” a source in Gangwon Province told

Daily NK on Tuesday. “The workers are complaining, saying they’ve returned to

the Paleolithic Era.”

He added that second-tier collective farms, comprising some 1,000 workers, have about 15 tractors, but 90 percent of

them either malfunction or are bereft of tires. “That leaves about one or two that

can actually operate,” he said. “There is one cow for every 8 hectares of land,

but that is nowhere close to sufficient–a lot of them died from foot-and-mouth disease or are being bred separately.”

Replacing small parts for the tractors is

relatively easy; tires, on the other hand, are another situation entirely: a large single rear

tire can cost hundreds of dollars. Needless to say, most farms find it unfathomable to entertain thoughts of purchasing one–let alone four.

“Because of this current situation,

second-tier state factories [each with approximately 1,500 workers] and others below that tier in the cities are mobilized to help till the fields and sow

seeds,” the source said. “Other than on

rice paddies, when it comes to fields that are on a slope, it’s laughable to

see people using extremely outdated equipment like old-fashioned plows to turn

over the soil.”

He said this sight is increasingly common on

collective farms, with some resorting to threshers operated manually with a

foot pedal because of the chronic power shortages. Foot-operated threshers were designed for war-time use when electricity is scarce; previously stored

along with emergency supplies, they have seen regular use in North Korea for the past two years.

Unsurprisingly, Party cadres have been spinning these practices as “new, independent, and creative methods,” encouraging their adoption throughout the country. According to the source, however, this attempts at promotion have been

met with nothing but mockery from the general public.

“Our

real lives are now reflective of what we saw in old movies,” is one of the

popular phrases employed by residents to express derision for the state’s agricultural policies. “Party cadres in the farming sector have even chimed in, lamenting

how things seem to be ‘going back in time,’” he said.