Farmers hope to boost production after switch to new methods

Taekam Cooperative Farm, near Pyongyang - 15 October 2012 1. Wide of farmers with rice ready for threshing 2. Mid of rice in threshing machine 3. Close of farmer holding bag as rice comes out of machine into bag 4. Wide of farmer moving bag of rice after it is filled from threshing machine 5. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Jong Myong Chol, Chairman of Taekam Cooperative Farm Management Committee: "Last year, we had to hand over everything we produced apart from seeds, feed for animals, and food for ourselves. But this year, we hand over food in return for the farming materials we received from the state, and in payment for the costs of using land and water, and the remainder of what is produced is distributed to the farmers." 6. Wide of farmers threshing rice 7. Mid of farmers pushing rice into thresher 8. Close of woman pushing rice into thresher 9. Close of rice going into thresher 10. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Jong Myong Chol, Chairman of Taekam Cooperative Farm Management Committee: "The farmers are very happy about this. In the past, the proportion for the farmers from what they produced was almost fixed, but this year, if you produce more, you get more, according to your performance. And the fact that the farmers get what they produce has increased their desire to produce, and this creates the conditions for a better life for them." Pyongyang - 17 October 2012 11. Wide of central Pyongyang with new tall apartment blocks in background 12. Mid of crowds of early morning commuters Pyongyang - 16 October 2012 13. Mid of Ri Ki Song, Professor at the Institute of Economy, North Korean Academy of Social Sciences 14. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Ri Ki Song, Professor, Institute of Economy, North Korean Academy of Social Sciences: "We are not going to do anything like reform and opening and going towards a market economy, but we are working to create and complete economic management systems which defend the socialist planned economy, and demonstrate its validity." Taekam Cooperative Farm, near Pyongyang - 15 October 2012 15. Wide of tractor driving past field 16. Wide of tractor turning with farmer running to throw up bales of rice and jump on to trailer STORYLINE: North Korea is offering a new deal to its farmers in the hope of stimulating production, but the secretive nation is anxious to avoid any idea that this is a step towards economic reform and an eventual opening up of its socialist economy. Under the government's new incentive scheme, farmers this year will get to keep more of what they have produced. The Taekam cooperative is a farming group on the outskirts of Pyongyang. This year they are finishing their harvest in mid-October. It was hit hard by the drought that affected the country earlier in the year, but avoided the damage caused by heavy rains in late summer. The news of this new policy came to the farm in June, its manager says. That matches foreign media reports from July which speculated that North Korea was experimenting with reform of its state-planned economy. Jong Myong Chol, Manager of Taekam Cooperative Farm, says that this year, there is no quota set by the state, instead farmers can keep what they produce, and only have to pay back to the state for the resources they use. He called it a "new economic management method for agriculture." "Last year, we had to hand over everything we produced apart from seeds, feed for animals, and food for ourselves. But this year, we hand over food in return for the farming materials we received from the state, and in payment for the costs of using land and water, and the remainder of what is produced is distributed to the farmers," said Jong Myong Chol. There has been no change to the size of the farm's work units, and each is still 15-25 farmers strong. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/30365cabdc8b3b7a2a96e270e265a610 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork