The agricultural season is always a precarious time in the DPRK. Characterised by a short growing season that coincides with the annual rains there is always concern about the harvest.
This year is no exception. Emergency Officers report that the planting season has been delayed by up to two weeks due to cold weather and delayed rains. In some of the north-eastern provinces of the country - which lie at an altitude of up to 2,000 metres - there is still intermittent snow fall.
However, according to Emergency Officers, by the end of April planting was complete in all areas visited by WFP. The exception was the county of Samijon in Ryanggang which due to it’s altitude, Emergency Officer Denise Crilly reports, will not be finished until end-May.
Distributions through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in April were 200 g ppd (grams per person per day). This will drop to 150 g ppd for the months of May and June. During April, Emergency Officers visited 28 PDS centres.
There are reports that many of the population are out looking for alternative food to supplement their PDS ration during this period.
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Access
No change in access |
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Access
No Access Total |
162
49 211 |
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Access was denied to Suan county in
North Hwangae during April. WFP gained access to Suan county in May 1999. |
Pipeline Update
The Japanese contribution of 100,000 Mts. of rice begins arriving in late May. The contribution has been staggered so that 10,000 Mts. arrives in May, and two consignments of 45,000 in June and July. Australia authorized a contribution of 12,500 Mts. of wheat originally earmarked for the PRRO to be used for the Emergency Operation. The PRRO Letter of Understanding has still not been signed. The United States has made a contribution of 10,000 Mts. of wheat that should be in country by end May.
These contributions secure the cereals pipeline only until July. In addition, stocks of vital pulses and oil will run out in August and September respectively.
Food for Work
During the month a joint UNDP/FAO/WFP mission travelled to Sinuiju to review an integrated irrigation system project.
The main objective of the project was to increase the size of small plots from a small 0.1 - 0.125 ha. to a more viable size of 0.5 - 0.8 ha. which is around the average size of paddy fields throughout the country and ready them for planting by preparing irrigation canals and laying top soil.
The mission recommended that this kind of project be implemented in other counties and provided technical advice - such as lining canals with stones to reinforce them - that will be incorporated into future projects to improve output.
Food for Work has become an important part of the humanitarian assistance programme in DPRK. WFP works closely with other UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNDP, to maximise the benefits of FFW for the people of the DPRK.
Resource constraints mean that WFP currently has 38 FFW projects - requiring 30,000 Mts. of cereals - on hold due to lack of commodities. These projects have been assessed and approved for implementation. The Australian cereal donation will enable 13 of these projects to proceed.
Local Production
The planned expansion of local production continues. Four biscuit factories received items for renovation and are expected to start production in May.
Local production figures are somewhat down this month due to technical problems and frequent power cuts.
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April Production
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Cumulative
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-- in Mts --
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Blended food
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188
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3,934
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Biscuits
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240
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3,541
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WFP Evaluation Mission
A three-member Evaluation Team, with representatives from WFP, FAO and WHO spent three weeks in DPRK assessing and evaluating the WFP programme, now in it’s fifth year of operations. Prior to the mission’s departure an Aide Memoire was presented to the government. A final report will be tabled at the WFP Executive Board in October 2000.
Monitoring
WFP carried out a total of 303 monitoring visits during April. This number is slightly less than March, when 336 visits took place:
This lower number is due to national celebrations for the April Spring Festival. The number of FFW monitoring visits was reduced from 86 to 65 as the government had advised that only select international staff may monitor FFW.
After discussions with the FDRC it has now been agreed that from mid-April all Emergency Officers may monitor both FFW and local production activities.
The United States PVOC
During April CARE USA announced that it would no longer participate in the US PVOC as of June 30.
The CARE announcement was careful to recognise that the humanitarian situation remained precarious in DPRK but that support to vulnerable groups at risk of malnutrition was provided by organisations such as WFP.
CARE is the second PVO to withdraw from the Consortium, CRS announced their departure earlier in the year.
The PVOC, now in it’s fifth phase, has been implementing FFW projects in DPRK for three years.
The PVOC offices are located within the WFP office complex in Pyongyang. WFP continues to provide logistical support to the PVOC.
Logistics
Arrivals this month are 2,288 Mts of vegetable oil and 656 Mts. pulses. This lower-arrival rate provided an opportunity to clear the backlog of commodities that had arrived during March. Shortages of fuel have meant that commodities have not always been moved as quickly as usual.
According to the MOU signed between WFP and the government, the DPRK authorities take possession of the commodities in the ships’ hold and are responsible for all internal transport and handling. WFP employs international Port Captains to supervise the offloading process.
Staffing
WFP currently has a total of 39 staff members working in the DPRK. Some 29 different nationalities are represented. The gender breakdown is 50% female and 50% male. Two new staff members are expected in May.
World Food Programme
PO Box 27 Munsudong
Pyongyang
DPR Korea
Tel: 850-2- 3817 220
Fax: 850-2- 3817 639
E-mail: first.last@wfp.org