economy

Ideal village

Primeval mountains and clear water and air were the only boast of Samgwang-ri in Unjon County, North Phyongan Province, and its name and location were known to few people.

But today it has turned into a standard entity that epitomizes the future of modern rural villages and livestock farming.

Modern houses standing in rows add to the idyllic mood peculiar to the countryside, and branch farms, processing plants, breeding houses, cultural and welfare facilities, office buildings and public buildings like a hall of culture, kindergarten, school, hospital and pharmacy were placed in perfect harmony.

Furthermore, the surrounding mountains were planted with fruit trees and other trees of good species, the shores of the reservoir and river were turned into places for recreational activities and distinctive parks, and power generation facilities using renewable energies were installed on the mountain slopes of the seat village.

Several years ago, respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un told some officials that he decided to build a livestock farm equipped with modern milk production facilities for children and people, and selected Samgwang-ri as the appropriate site. He energetically guided the construction of the farm by solving all problems arising in the project despite the pandemic crisis that swept the world and consecutive natural disasters.

Thus, the Samgwang Livestock Farm of the North Phyongan Provincial Rural Economy Committee was successfully built as a model farm that can represent the socialist countryside in the new era and as an ideal rural village as nice as a city.

Farm nicknamed ‘livestock factory’

“The stock keepers who had to take it for granted to graze cattle on mountains in the scorching sun and rainstorm have now become computer-trained workers who freely handle the control system in the modern animal houses and manage the breeding and tending of animals by scientific, technological and industrial methods,” said Kim Ki Hyok, deputy manager of the farm.

According to him, those who looked round the farm say that it is not a farm but a modern livestock factory.

The control room equipped with an intelligent integrated production system is dedicated to optimizing the feeding, environmental management and individual and herd management through an intelligent breeding system. It tends animals in a scientific way on the basis of individual biological data reflecting the specific conditions of each animal, including the growth, body temperature and quantity of motion.

An indoor breeding method was introduced into the goat and milch cow houses to produce milk regardless of seasonal change while economizing on labour and land. The milk is conveyed directly to the dairy production site through a pipeline.

The protected seedling cultivation ground which produces barley sprouts in an industrial way has saved much labour and increased the working efficiency by means of an automatic sowing line. It is also equipped with advanced seedling cultivation and environment control equipment, including a rotary cultivation device, and an intelligent cultivation process based on growth simulation to raise the production efficiency per unit area to the maximum.

The farm is indeed a wonderful “livestock factory”, in which most processes including milking, transport, production and processing of feed are put on an industrial basis and the production growth and the development of livestock farming technology are firmly guaranteed with the incorporation of a modern stockbreeding research branch.

Ever-increasing demand and income

Eight months have passed since the farm was put into operation.

In such a short period, the farm’s production staff, including researchers, have achieved the optimization of the management of dairy production with an intelligent production execution system and created a stable and profitable production environment. They have thoroughly ensured the hygienic safety of products by using modern, high-precision analytical equipment and refined brand designs and containers, thus making the “Samgwang” dairy products flawless in every aspect.

The variety of dairy products offered by the farm has increased three times more than the time of its inauguration.

The demand for “Samgwang” dairy products, including ripened, semi-ripened and unripened cheeses, butter cheese, cream cheese, sour milk, sour strawberry milk, condensed milk, yogurt, raw milk, cow’s milk powder, goat’s milk powder, fermented butter, cream butter and kefir, is increasing day by day.

As large numbers of commercial service units across the country are ordering the farm’s dairy products, its production fails to keep up with the orders.

The area which turned into a modern livestock farm this year is expected to earn seven times more annual income and 12 times more net income than before.