A Seoul-based civic group said Friday that it would send farming materials to North Korea from the Incheon Port on Sunday.

The International Corn Foundation, which runs humanitarian programs to alleviate North Korea's food shortages, said the donations worth 280 million won, or $237,500 dollars, include 650 tons of fertilizer.

The group said two foundation officials will visit the North and monitor the distribution of the materials at the request of the North.

The impoverished country has relied on external handouts to feed its 22 million people since the mid-1990s, when a series of floods and other natural disasters further devastated its economy.