North Korea suffered its first downturn in food production in five years, a 9-percent drop during 2015 to 5.4 million tonnes, says the Food and Agriculture Organization. The smaller harvest “is expected to worsen food security in the country,” says the UN agency. “Most households were already estimated to have poor or borderline food consumption levels.” Scanty rainfall, limited supplies of irrigation water and “reduced supplies of fertilizer and fuel” all contributed to the drop in production, said FAO, which based its figures on an analysis of official production figures.
Paddy rice, the largest staple crop in North Korea, plunged by 26 percent, to 1.9 million tonnes, said FAO, and corn, the second-most important crop, fell by 3 percent to 2.3 million tonnes, despite larger plantings. Output of soybeans, sorghum, millet and buckwheat showed showed sizable increases from 2014 for a combined 376,000 tonnes. Soybeans are the most important source of protein in North Korea, said FAO.
For this year, the outlook is much improved for early-season potatoes, wheat and barley, forecast for 363,000 tonnes, up 21 percent from 2015. Harvest of those crops will begin in June.