The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecast that North Korea’s total production of rice and corn for this year will see a decline of 14 percent compared to last year.
 
Voice of America quoted the FAO’s recently-released Food Outlook report as assessing that the North produced a total of one-and-a-half million tons of rice and two-point-two million tons of corn this year for a total production of three-point-seven million tons.
 
Compared to last year, that’s down 200-thousand tons in terms of rice and 400-thousand tons in terms of corn.
 
The drop is likely to have resulted from abnormal weather, including droughts.
 
FAO plans to secure a total of four-point-two million tons of rice and corn by importing 300-thousand tons of rice and 200-thousand tons of corn next year. However, the FAO cited that such a figure falls short of the five-point-four million tons in the North’s minimum grain volume requirements.
 
Next year, North Korea’s rice consumption per capita is expected to stand at 67 kilograms with corn at 80 kilograms. That’s half the level recommended by the UN.