Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, inspected on July 24 the supply base of a unit of the Korean People’s Army, which achieved a great success in implementing the Party’s policy on encouraging fish farming in paddy fields, to learn about the actual state of affairs.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by leading officials of the Party, government and armed forces organs, including members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, and chief secretaries of provincial Party committees.

True to the policy of the Party on encouraging fish farming in paddy fields, the supply base intensified research and produced more than 70 tons of catfish per hectare while sharply lowering the feed consumption rate and increasing the fattening rate of the fish as compared to the industrial method. It also harvested over 10 tons of rice per hectare in low-yielding fields by using no fertilizers and agrochemicals.

Watching with satisfaction the paddy fields teeming with catfish, Kim Jong Un highly appreciated that though the unit is not a specialized catfish farm, it had started fish farming in paddy fields with a small number of employees and their family members and proved the economic effectiveness of paddy-field fish farming and provided a scientific and technical guarantee for it in just three years by combining scientific research with production.

Learning in detail about the method of paddy-field catfish farming created by the unit and its experience, he said that in order to do fish farming in paddy fields it is necessary to select a right place taking into account the water source and quality, pollution state of the surrounding area, irrigation and drainage conditions and soil characteristics, adding that it is most important to remodel paddy fields-making passages and pools-so as to create favourable conditions for the growth of the fish.

Explaining to the cadres accompanying him the advantage of the integrated system of green cultivation and fish farming, which has become a world trend, he stressed that in order to make a leap forward in this field we should establish a scientific theory of our-style paddy-field fish farming and standardize it, not confining ourselves to introducing the successes and experiences of individual units.

An official of the unit said that her unit built spawning ponds this year and has so far sent two million catfish fries it had bred to various army and civilian units and harvested 7 tons of wheat and 30 tons of garlic per hectare, which were planted as earlier crops, and expects to produce 50 to 60 tons of rice in five hectares of paddy fields by producing 10 to 12 tons per hectare, and 300 to 350 tons of catfish in the fields by breeding 60 to 70 tons per hectare.

On hearing her report, Kim Jong Un praised the unit, saying that it set a practical example in introducing organic farming through fish breeding, to which our Party attaches importance.

He said that the officials of the base, who have accepted the Party’s policy as a truth and part of their faith and brought about substantial successes in improving the soldiers’ and people’s living standards, are genuine revolutionaries and patriots, and gave special thanks to the base.

Saying that it is important first to make the leading officials at all levels possess rich knowledge of paddy-field fish farming, he gave instructions on pushing forward proactively with the work of holding a demonstration lecture and making arrangements to extensively introduce our-style green cultivation and fish farming method established by the officials of the unit.