According to Yonhap:
North Korea is expected to produce 1.9 million tons of rice in 2014, the same amount that the country is estimated to have produced last year, the U.N. food agency said on May 13.
The figure represents an increase from 2010, 2011 and 2012 when North Korea’s average rice production reached 1.7 million tons, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a biannual global food report posted on its website.
The report said per capita rice consumption in North Korea is forecast to reach 67.8 kilograms this year, compared with 65.4 kg from a year earlier.
It also said North Korea is forecast to produce 2.3 million tons of maize this year, compared with 2.2 million tons in 2013.
Rice is a key staple food for both South and North Koreans, though North Koreans also rely on maize due to chronic food shortages.
The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a widespread famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
I spent a good 15 minutes looking for the report (which was never cited by name–sloppy reporting). If the report is to be found on the UNFAO web page, they sure don’t make it easy for a curious person to find.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea expected to produce 1.9 mln tons of rice in 2014: U.N. food agency
Yonhap
2014-5-13
