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Last Updated: Friday, 23 September 2005, 06:52 GMT 07:52 UK
North Korea's problem with food
By Sarah Buckley
BBC News

North Korean farmers work at their rice paddies as two Koreas delegations meet for their second day meeting at the North Korean border city of Kaesong, May 17, 2005.
Mountainous North Korea is difficult to farm


Photographs which depict a lush, rural environment are misleading. The country needs an average of 1m metric tonnes in food aid a year.

"North Korea is not an agrarian country," said Kathi Zellweger, a frequent visitor to the country with aid organisation Caritas. It is mostly rugged mountain terrain, and only about 18% is arable.


An average urban dweller gets 250g cereal from government
In addition, can afford approx 30g maize
And may forage for mushrooms, edible grasses, acorns etc
Recommended amount is 550-590g of blend of foods, equivalent to 2,100kcal



Spiralling prices




North Korean women gather at a stall to buy food items in Pyongyang, 14 February 2003.
Market prices are too expensive for the average North Korean
The UN's World Food Programme estimates that an average urban North Korean's guaranteed diet is around 280g of cereals a day.






To date, only 270,000 of the 500,000 tonnes of food needed for 2005 has arrived, the WFP says.

And there is always the risk of natural disaster.


Ongoing land clearance has destroyed natural water breaks, "so it all just comes flooding down".

Mr Bourke was reluctant to paint a worst-case scenario.

"I'm not in the business of predicting numbers that are going to die," he said. "North Koreans are very tough people. They are very accustomed to deprivation. But that doesn't take away the urgent need for food aid."

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