Background
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea experienced a progressive improvement in food security between 2000 and 2005 as a result of increased agricultural production and large-scale food assistance. However, in 2006 and 2007, the country suffered negative developments in domestic food availability, including two consecutive years of summer flooding. Based on Government data on 2007 spring and summer harvests, FAO estimated the cereal deficit in 2008 to be over 1.6 million tonnes, the largest food gap since 2000/01.
Funding from donors continues to play a vital role in safeguarding and promoting the well-being of vulnerable populations, especially children and women, in the priority area of food security. The Government recognizes FAO as the lead agency in the agriculture sector and has endorsed the Organization’s contribution in responding to priorities by developing short- and medium-term interventions. Besides supporting rehabilitation and recovery interventions, humanitarian assistance is sometimes needed, such as that provided after the severe damage to the agriculture sector caused by the August 2007 floods.
FAO’s emergency role in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
The presence of a Programme Coordinator in the country office in Pyongyang has enabled FAO to increase collaboration with operational and policy personnel in Government line ministries (agriculture, lands and environment, fisheries and forestry) as well as to consolidate the collective goal of the UN Country Team to assist the Government in its efforts to improve the quality of life for all its citizens.
Agricultural land in the country is organized and cropped through approximately 3 900 cooperative farms and 100 state farms, including 125 fishing cooperatives. FAO has mobilized resources to assist the farms with a range of agricultural inputs, machinery and spare parts. Assistance focuses on the main cereal-producing region, known as the ‘cereal bowl’. Recently, FAO’s approach has evolved from providing mainly agricultural inputs to supporting the training needs at various Government levels. Hence, FAO’s revised rehabilitation and recovery programme consists of input support, technical assistance, training and capacity building.
At present, FAO is carrying out nine projects that provide support to:
- early detection, response and control of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks;
- capacity building for the prevention and control of avian influenza;
- reducing the spread of the pine caterpillar infesting the forests close to Pyongyang;
- enhancing the production of key winter crops (2008) and main summer crops (2009) by providing urea fertilizer;
- integrating potato production into the conservation agriculture approach;
- providing support to barley and vegetable production; and
- supporting the coordination of interventions in the agriculture sector.
Capacity building is supported through the provision of technical assistance, training and study tours abroad for technicians, academics and cooperative management experts.
In June 2008, a Rapid Food Security Assessment (RFSA) was jointly carried out by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) to assess the food requirements across the country’s most affected provinces. To this end, the RFSA concluded that the food security of vulnerable populations has deteriorated significantly over the past year both in terms of food availability, accessibility and utilization. Two successive years of flooding, crop losses and decreases in external food imports and aid have caused a sharp reduction in food availability across the country. To complement the findings of the RFSA, an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission was conducted in October 2008 to forecast the 2008/09 harvests.
