This is clear from the fact that the area of paddy fields where mud snails are used for rice cultivation swelled more than eight times last year as compared with that in the previous year, taking the country as a whole.

A facility for breeding mud snails covering 15,000 square meters sprang up in Pyongyang.

More than 150 facilities for mud snail raising were built in South Hwanghae Province, the nation's leading granary.

Farms in North Phyongan Province are directing efforts to the work to place the mud snail breeding on a scientific and technological basis.

Yomju County, in particular, built grounds for raising mud snails, increasing the production of young mud snails to fulfil its plan for applying those snails to 1,000 hectares of paddy fields. The drive to use mud snails for farming to suit features of local areas is also making brisk headway on farms in North Hwanghae, Kangwon and South Hamgyong provinces and other areas.