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Date : October 14, 2015
Hopes dashed- another sorry potato harvest
   http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=13515 [721]
Many North Koreans restrained to a potato-only diet get sick with malnutrition

Sources within North Korea have revealed that the autumn potato harvest in Yanggang Province was completed before the Korean Workers Party 70th anniversary celebrations on October 10th. Prior to the festivities, farm workers were each given a disbursement of one ton of potatoes, equivalent to one years worth.

The potatoes were dug up and distributed to families in all the areas in Yanggang Province. Residents were surprised to find that even though the country was in the midst of a celebration, the food disbursement was exactly as it's been in years past, according to the source, who added that many took it as a glib sign that the regime requires the year-round back breaking labor of its residents but it can only provide potatoes in return, year after year. 

He noted that while the amount may seem like a lot, the potatoes are low quality. Families who want to eat rice usually have to go outside the local area in order to trade rice for potatoes; however, the vegetables are so subpar that the going rate is 10 kg of potatoes for 1 kg of rice.  
So lots of people simply dont eat rice, he added. 

Central Party cadres say that there is a potato revolution happening here in the propaganda, but the residents say that the potatoes have such poor nutrients that you immediately feel hungry after you urinate once.
Many of those restrained to a potato-only diet get sick with malnutrition. Just hearing the word potato is enough to set off a wave of disgust in the region. Most folks badly want to find ways to get rice, he explained. One guy I talked to remarked, If the cadres are so fond of potatoes, why dont they eat them? Then we farmers can eat their rice." 

[Source: DailyNK]

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