GIEWS Update - The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 27 April 2016

Year of publication2016

AuthorFAO

PublisherFAO

Other entities involved Joint Research Centre of the European Commission

AbstractThe 2015 aggregate food production is estimated at 5.42 million tonnes, 9 percent less than in 2014, due to poor rains and low availabilities of water for irrigation. This is the first reduction since 2010 and follows a stagnant output in 2014. Production of paddy rice, the country’s main staple, dropped by 26 percent and output of maize also decreased, but to a lesser extent. By contrast, the output of more drought-resistant minor crops, such as soybeans and other cereals, increased considerably partially compensating for the reduced rice and maize crops. Total food requirements for the 2015/16 marketing year November/October) are forecast by FAO at 5.49 million tonnes in cereal equivalent (rice in milled terms), resulting in a cereal import requirement of 694 000 tonnes. Assuming the official import target of 300 000 tonnes of cereals is met, an uncovered deficit of 394 000 tonnes for the current marketing year is forecast. This gap is almost four times larger than in 2014/15 and the highest since 2011/12. Given the tight supplies, the food security situation in 2015/16 is expected to deteriorate from the past few years when most households were already estimated with a poor or borderline food consumption. Government-distributed food rations, which provide the main access to food for 18 million people, have been sharply reduced since July 2015. In response to the 2015 drought, within the framework of FAO’s Strategic Objective 5 to increase the resilience of livelihoods to shocks, FAO is providing the most affected farms in North and South Hwanghae provinces with essential agricultural inputs, equipment and training.

 

Product typeNewsletter

SeriesGIEWS - Updates

CountryDemocratic People's Republic of Korea

RegionAsia and the Pacific

ISSN2707-1723

Areas of workGlobal Information and Early Warning System

KeywordsFood production; paddy rice; maize; soybeans; maize; food security; import requirements; Hwanghae; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.