Harvests in North Korea are expected to increase by about 8,5% from last year, but the country will still need to import 739 000t of grain.
With the government planning to import 325 000t, this leaves a deficit of 414 000t, according to a report by the United Nations’s Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Food Programme.
The report highlighted ongoing concerns over the nutrition situation in North Korea, particularly among young children, concluding that nearly 3 million people will continue to need food assistance in 2012.
The report recommended pulses and fortified blended foods to address protein deficiencies, as well as, in the short term, the provision of wheat, barley and potato seed and the delivery of plastic sheeting to protect seedbeds.
One of the report’s longer-term recommendations is that North Korea should increase its domestic production by adopting conservation agriculture. – Staff reporter
