DPRK to increase output of farm products.

27/2 Tass 172

PYONGYANG, February 27 (Itar-Tass) -- The output of agricultural
products should be increased considerably as early as this year towards
gradually solving the problem of food shortage in the DPRK, Kwak Pom-gi,
the deputy prime minister of the DPRK, told the republican conference of
state, party, and research institutions and organizations responsible for
agriculture, held here from February 25-26, the Korean Central News Agency
reports.

He said both civil servants and agricultural toilers last year
"realized the importance and timeliness of the policy of the Korean
Workers' Party aimed at a radical turn in agriculture." "If we develop
this branch, as our leader Kim Jong-il teaches us, there will be no
problem of the shortage of food for the population," the deputy premier
said.
Kwak Pom-gi pointed to the successes achieved in the country's
agriculture, mentioning the planting of new high-yield strains of crops
local scientists evolved, as well as creating a network of exemplary
cooperative economies and settlements.
Taking part in the conference were Prime Minister Kim Yong-Il,
secretaries of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers' Party, heads
of people's committees of provinces, cities and districts, provincial
officials, and directors of cooperatives, factories and plants.
The DPRK has high-risk agriculture because of frequent floods. But,
according to the information of the United Nations World Food Program, the
shortage of food products is caused not only by natural calamities but
also by sizable cuts in foreign humanitarian aid.
-0-saf/kud