A series of farm reforms are expected to be introduced in North Korea, which would see farmers keeping more of their own crops, rather than handing them to the state.

In the mid-1990s a famine gripped the DPR Korea, which was sparked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and resultant end of incoming agricultural inputs leading to a dramatic decrease in agricultural production in North Korea. It is estimated that between 240,000 and 3.5 million people died as a result of the famine.

Since that time, food shortages in North Korea have been common place. In July, the UN suggested that over 60 per cent of North Korea's 24 million people could suffer from chronic food shortages.

The new policy is thought to be an attempt to incentivise production increases. However, in recent months, speculation has been rife that reforms could be passed under new leader Kim Jong-un, who came to power in December 2011. It is believed that the changes will be enacted before the autumn harvest.

There has been speculation that the proposed changes could prove similar to those introduced in China in the late 1970s and early 1980s whereby farmers were allowed to keep whatever surplus they could grow after meeting their quota.

Under the current system, farmers give all of their produce to the state, aside from a small amount kept for themselves and their families. However, a number of farmers in the South of the country have suggested that growers will be able to keep between 30 and 50 per cent of the food they produce to sell in the market place, depending on the harvest and the region.

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