1995-2001: History of WFP in DPRK
2000: WFP staff total reaches
39 of which half are female. WFP food reached a monthly average of 5.38
million people
1999: WFP's operation reaches 8 million people with 876,933 metric tons of food at a cost of US$357.6 million
1998: WFP feeds 6.7 million with 600,000 tons of food.
Total cost is US$345.8 million. 35 international staff
1997: WFP feeds 4.7 million with 400,000 tons of food at US$170.7 million. International staff totals 24
1996: WFP feeds 1.575 million with 70,000 tons of food at a cost of US$25.9 million. Five international staff members
1995: WFP feeds 500,000 farmers with 21,000 tons of food at US$9.76 million. Four international staff members
FAO/WFP Crop & Food Supply Assessment Mission
Dateline: 23 June-3 July
Objective: review food supply for marketing year (Nov 2000-Oct 2001) and assess 2001 main crops
Where: field trips to four provinces and one municipality -- North & South Hwanghae, North & South Pyongon and Pyongyong
Who: consultations with Government authorities, UN and bilateral aid agencies and international NGOs
WFP / FAO joint report appeals for more food aid as 100-day spring drought destroys crops and deepens North Korea's food deficit.
July 30, 2001 - One of the longest spring droughts in recorded history has severely undermined the Democratic Republic of North Korea's already fragile food security.
In a special report, WFP and the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) reveal that the almost total failure of rains from March to mid-June will have "dire consequences for the food security of (DPRK's) population."
Both Rome-based agencies warn the international community that more food aid is "imperative" to help feed a population already reeling from a series of natural disasters and persistent economic problems.
North Korea's second successive year of drought has ravaged wheat, barley and potato crops forcing many farmers to abandon an estimated 10 percent of the country's planted area.
As a result, DPRK will be burdened with a food deficit of more than half-a-million metric tons for the remaining four months of the 2000/2001 marketing year.
ALARMING READING
The WFP/FAO report is based on the findings of a joint crop and food supply assessment mission that visited North Korea at the end of June to report firsthand on the affects of a drought that, in many places, lasted 100 days.
Their findings make alarming reading. In no fewer than 12 provinces, the mean monthly rainfall was only a twentieth of the long-term average for April, depleting rivers and reservoirs and crippling irrigation systems.
Field-trips concentrated on the four rice-bowl provinces of North Pyongan, South Pyongan, South Hwanghae and North Hwanghae. In the latter province, the mission discovered that the Unpa reservoir was virtually dry with water levels five to 15 percent below normal.
Drought conditions have not just destroyed the spring harvests. They have also degraded planting conditions for the main cereals and potato crops, and prospects are unfavourable for the maize harvest in September.
With winter/spring crops expected to yield just 172,000 tons rather than the 493,000 tons initially predicted, the North Korean government's Public Distribution System plans to cut individual daily rations from 215 grammes to just 150g for the remainder of the 2000/2001 marketing year.
However, WFP and FAO fear the cooperative farms, which account for the bulk of domestic production, might not meet even this target.
The Agencies have reduced their previous estimates for the total production of cereals and potato in 2000/2001 from 2.92 million tons to 2.57 million tons.
Allowing for cereal imports already contracted and food aid delivered or pledged by donors, WFP and FAO calculate that DPRK still faces a food deficit of 564,000 tons for the rest of the current marketing year.
"As the country enters the difficult lean season, additional imports and food assistance for the period until mid-October will be imperative to avert further hardship," concluded the report.
"Any shortfall in the mobilisation of such assistance would pose a threat of a deepening food crisis in the country next year."
SERIAL DISASTER
The drought is the latest in a series of natural disasters, including floods and tidal waves, to threaten DPRK's food security. There were floods in 1995 and 1996, drought and storms in 1997 and drought again in 2000.
At the same time, DPRK's economic decline has made it increasingly difficult to reinforce food security through the purchase of fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides.
Agricultural machinery and equipment are old or in disrepair. Fuel and electricity to operate tractors, pump irrigation water and transport materials are no longer sufficient.
Since 1995, only a massive influx of WFP food aid has saved millions of lives from the risk of starvation.
"There is little doubt that widespread starvation in North Korea has only been averted by concerted national efforts and the unprecedented volume of food aid provided by the international community over the past six years," writes the report.
WFP'S BIGGEST SINGLE OPERATION
To help respond to the latest crisis, WFP aims to mobilise and deliver one million tons of food aid to more than 7.6 million North Koreans. It is the Agency's biggest single operation worldwide.
The food, which is distributed through the government's Public Distribution System, targets:
Vulnerable Groups: nursery and kindergarten children, primary and secondary school children, orphans, children in paediatric hospitals, pregnant and nursing women and the elderly.
In the wake of the 2001 spring drought, WFP has succeeded in increasing the rations given to pregnant mothers and raising the number of beneficiaries to include care givers at schools & paediatric hospitals as well as flood victims.
Supplementary feeding programmes have also been introduced to treat malnourished children admitted to provincial paediatric hospitals and the paediatric wards of county hospitals. They are fed with enriched blended foods, which are also provided to children's centres and nurseries.
Food for Work: through these projects, WFP looks to increase the overall food security of vulnerable communities. They focus on flood control measures and building agricultural infrastructure.
Local Processing of Blended Foods and Biscuits: since 1998, WFP and UNICEF have supported the local production of fortified biscuits and blended foods for children up to the age of 15 years and for pregnant and nursing women.
The WFP/FAO report warns that North Korea's food aid safety net cannot be removed without "dire food security consequences", but urges the international community to support longer-term measures.
"It is imperative that international support be increased substantially from its current low levels for recovery and rehabilitation in agriculture to ensure longer-term food security."
WFP in North Korea: Monitoring
WFP has a policy in DPRK whereby no food is distributed to counties where access is not permitted for monitoring. If WFP does not have access to a county, it does not get food aid
With the addition of four new counties this year (Paechon, Yonan and Kwail in South Hwanghae province and Hoichang in South Pyongan), WFP currently has access to 167 out of a total of 211 counties - equivalent to some 84 percent of the population
A recently modified monitoring system has improved the Agency's ability to make sure food aid reaches the right people in each of these counties
The system tracks food aid from its arrival on ships or trains through to its distribution to beneficiaries. It is based on a distribution plan which stipulates the receiving institution, the number of people targeted, the type of commodity and the quantity to be received
Family visits are also used. They are particularly useful because they provide insights into food availability at the household level and the coping mechanisms people use
This year has also seen greater flexibility in WFP's visits, particularly into rural areas. However, the WFP/FAO report acknowledges there is room for improvement, including a more comprehensive listing of all beneficiary institutions and the ability to make random visits.
Press Releases
Jul 27, 2001: Severe spring drought worsens already precarious food situation in North Korea
Nov 15, 2000: DPRK braces for seventh year of food shortage
=A9 World Food Programme, 2001