Food aid for vulnerable populations

Assessments carried out in institutions for children and the elderly, as well as in the cooperative farms responsible for supplying them, have revealed major needs for improving the availability, access and use of food. This action has a cross-functional effect on the levers of food security.

Two categories of vulnerable people are concerned: the elderly, who in 2014 represented 14% of the country’s population, and children under 5, who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition.

The level of production of market garden produce on cooperative farms is currently too low to provide children’s institutions with sufficient quantities for a diversified diet. This programme will initially increase the amount of food available to institutions, focusing on both production and post-production practices.

A number of factors can explain the low yields of vegetable crops, including a lack of equipment for ploughing, harvesting and transport, as well as a shortage of organic and mineral matter to improve soil fertility. The lack of adequate means of transport leads to a lot of losses, with vegetables being abandoned in the fields, or in a state of preservation that makes them unfit for consumption when they arrive in the institutions. This programme will provide farms with the equipment they need to overcome these shortcomings (transport trailers and tillage equipment).

The work carried out by TGH is also linked to the implementation of three multi-service care centres for the elderly (in Sariwon, Haeju and Pyongyang) set up during a previous programme in collaboration with our local partner, the Korean Federation for the Care of the Aged (KFCA). 

In Sariwon and Haeju, plots of land and operating staff will enable residents to enjoy more balanced meals, and greenhouses, equipment and training in the specificities of greenhouse cultivation for operating staff will optimise production. 

In Pyongyang, hygiene and conservation equipment for products from certain income-generating activities will be distributed.