A new aid commitment from the federal government, along with the Aug. 1 crash in prairie grain prices, means more Canadian food aid will be flowing to drought-stricken North Korea this year.
Last week, Ottawa announced an additional $4.5 million in food aid for North Korea – $2.5 million in canned fish to be distributed through the World Food Program and $2 million for grains, to be purchased by the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Al Kehler, program co-ordinator for the foodgrains bank, said in an interview Aug. 13 the agreement by the Canadian International Development Agency to allow the money to be spent on North Korean aid is a breakthrough he has been anticipating.
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Wheat, barley donated
Earlier this summer, the foodgrains bank announced a 13,500 tonne wheat and barley donation to North Korea.
“We will be in the market for grain again,” he said.
And since Canadian Wheat Board initial payments fell, those dollars will stretch farther.
“I feel badly saying it because those prices hurt farmers, but lower prices are good for us,” he said. “We will be able to send much more food over now than we would have before with the same funding.”
CIDA matches four-to-one money raised by the bank. The $2 million authorization for North Korean aid is in response to $500,000 raised privately.
It means the farmer and church-supported aid agency will be able to designate part of the funds it already receives from CIDA to the North Korean project.
The foodgrains bank has a three year deal for $18 million in funding from the federal aid agency.
Special approval
However, because Canada does not have official diplomatic relations with the communist Asian country where floods and drought have put millions of people at risk of starvation, CIDA must give special approval for its funds to be used in that country.
It came in an announcement from CIDA minister Diane Marleau Aug. 10.
The United Nations World Food Program has appealed for donations of 330,000 tonnes of grain to double rations of food to children under six.
“Since drought and flooding have destroyed the corn harvest, the North Koreans will have to depend on food from outside the country for their immediate survival,” said a statement issued by CIDA.
So far this year, the agency has committed $10 million to the North Korean famine-relief effort.
