As North Korea publishes its official list of new patriotic slogans, what we all want to know, of course, is whether the country’s agrobiodiversity receives the attention it deserves. Well, here is a selection of the more striking agriculturally-themed exhortations, culled from the full list of — count them — 310:
- Let us make our country overflow with rice by boosting cereals production!
- Actively introduce water-saving farming and other scientific farming methods!
- Let us work hard to secure water resources as an all-people campaign!
- Let us encourage organic farming on an extensive scale!
- Establish the food production cycle of crop cultivation and livestock farming, and fruit growing and livestock farming!
- Let us beat the world in fruit farming by making it scientific, modern and intensive!
- Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!
- Grow vegetables extensively in greenhouses!
- Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialized!
- Let us carry through the great Generalissimos’ instructions on “grass for meat”!
- Let us expedite the construction of the large-scale livestock farming base in the Sepho area!
- Produce larger quantities of meat, eggs and milk holding high the banner of science-based livestock farming!
Very disappointing not to see the conservation of crop diversity in genebanks more forcefully encouraged.