Kameraad Zhang

The report estimated that about 8.7 million North Koreans, mostly children, pregnant or nursing women, and the elderly will be affected in the coming months due to an expected cereal deficit of 836,000 tons.

It was reported that this year’s food shortage in North Korea is said to have been caused by a lack of fertilizer, which decreased by 40 percent since 2007 despite good weather and hard work by North Korean farmers.

North Korea has been relying on international assistance to feed its people for the last decade and halted South Korean fertilizer aid this year seems to have contributed to the current food shortage in North Korea.

According to the report, the severity of the food scarcity was not noticed until spring and severe fertilizer shortage was an eventual realization.

But the report also said that this year’s food shortage is not only caused by the shortage of fertilizer but also by the low soil fertility and long term underinvestment in farm machinery which contribute in the long term to low the productivity of the farming sector. North Korean farming industry is based on an unsustainable agricultural production model and farming techniques.

In the beginning of 2008, North Koreans were receiving average 350 grams of food, which was then reduced to 250 grams in May and further to 150 grams between June and September, adjusted to 300 grams in October (2007 rations were 500 grams average until the flood in August). Some families in North Korea own small kitchen gardens, in which they grow crops such as cabbage, beans, garlic and occasionally potatoes and maize. These kitchen gardens play a major role in sustaining the livelihood of North Koreans before the harvest season and during food shortages.

The WFP uses four beneficiary categories for food assistance. The first beneficiary group includes women (pregnant and lactating), the elderly, children and patients, the second group includes public distribution system (PDS) dependents that are unable to meet their food requirements, and the third group includes the unemployed or under-employed workers, while the last group includes teachers, nurses and doctors.

It was reported that some collect wild foods to supplement their food requirements such as edible grasses, bracken, seaweeds, bellflower roots and more. During food shortages, people are reported to cope by living off these kitchen gardens or hillside farming, while eating less often and feeding children first. Therefore, the ones that do not own a kitchen garden and depend on the government rations are the most vulnerable during any food shortage.

Henri Josserand, Chief of the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System said that the prospects for next year of North Korea are bleak. “With a substantial deficit of basic foods that will only partly be covered by commercial imports and anticipated food aid” he added.

The WFP is planning to provide medical and food assistance through Food for Community Development programs according to the four beneficiary categories.

However, the South Korean government announced today during a daily briefing that the current North Korean situation is not extremely urgent since the harvest rate is higher than last year’s, and that South Korean officials are reviewing the report released by the FAO/WFP.

The joint report released by the WFP and FAO was conducted once in June 2008 and from 9th to 24th of October 2008, the first time since 2004. During the June survey, Rapid Food Security Assessment covered all ten provinces while the October survey covered six provinces.