To increase national food-grain production so as to raise, in the
shortest time possible, the food-grain consumption of the largest possible
number of people suffering from severe and generalized reductions in
food intake.
To restore and sustain animal production in the hilly areas, thereby
enhancing household incomes through increased sales of animal products
and improved household food security and nutrition through the greater
availability of high-energy food and animal protein.
Activities
The livestock component will include:
Poultry development
Rural credit
Goat and pasture development
General livestock support (feed mills, a livestock support fund and
institutional support)
The crop component will deliver a package of inputs to
the country’s most productive grain growing area. Funds generated
by the sale of these inputs will be used subsequently to finance further
poverty-alleviation activities. Outcome
The project has achieved many of its intended results, and
has significantly contributed to the production of grain and the rebuilding
of livestock systems and production at cooperative farms under the project.
At the same time, utilization of the facilities established under the
project is below appraisal expectations. Several of the feed mills are
without essential ingredients and there is a large dependence on imported
material. Most of the facilities are under performing due to the lack
of proper support. Also poor animal performance in certain locations is
a source of concern. The level of animal husbandry especially in the small-scale
farms is low and farmers lack of relevant training. Sustainability of
various project components is not assured.
The most outstanding feature of the Project is the credit component.
About 60% of the loan recipients have been women headed households and
the project has had a significant impact on empowerment of women. Beneficiary
households have grasped the opportunities made available through the project
and the benefits have been in excess of expectations. Loan recovery is
near 100 percent and clients are keen to reborrow increased amount of
capital. Beneficiary interviews indicate that the household credit component
have increased nutrition and incomes significantly at household level
of project target groups. However, the future of the household credit
component is being threatened by the adjustment of prices in July 2002
that depleted its revolving fund.
Access
to inputs and infrastructure
Planned
Achieved
To facilitate the provision
of credit to households for the purchase of livestock, including
breeding goats.
To establish a livestock-support fund to undertake
pilot activities and provide equipment and inputs to key livestock
support services.
Household credit was successfully
extended.
No information is yet available on the operation of the livestock
support fund.
Organizations
and people
There are
about 3 000 agricultural cooperatives, accounting for some 6 million
members, which play crucial social and welfare roles, providing
the institutional framework for the delivery of government-financed
educational and health services. The project decided to strengthen
the potential of cooperatives and individual farmers to maximize
the benefits from livestock production.
Planned
Achieved
To provide training and
technical assistance.
To support livestock institutions serving cooperatives
and individual farmers through the provision of inputs, including
equipment and vehicles.
By December 2000, an intensive
training programme had been organized for the managers and chief
accountants of poultry units and for cooperative accountants. The
training team included senior trainers from the People’s Economic
University and the Livestock Management Faculty of the Agriculture
University, as well as experienced managers of state enterprises.
Management and financial training was complemented by technical
training in poultry management. A study tour on credit management
was made to China.
The project has supported the Poultry Engineering Research Institute
and county veterinary centres by providing equipment and training.
Risk
management
The principal
challenge facing D.P.R. Korea in the agricultural sector is the
need to adjust to major structural changes caused largely by the
growing cost of fertilizer and fuel, while avoiding increased rural
poverty. IFAD’s strategy is to support, partly through grass-roots-oriented
credit programmes, a greater diversification (across cooperatives)
and specialization (within cooperatives) of the agricultural sector.
This should improve prevailing land-use and resource-allocation
patterns.
Planned
Achieved
To provide loans to individual
households to finance livestock and side-line activities.
To provide working capital loans to poultry-breeding units, broiler-fattening
units and feed mills.
A total of 30,531 loans
were disbursed between 1998 and 2002 to individual households. In
general, the project lending performance has been judged successful.
About 60% of the loan recipients have been women headed households
and the most popular livestock activities have been rabbit, poultry,
goat, pig and goose rearing in the order of importance.
Range
management
The counties
of the livestock sub-project are located in a mountainous area,
where there are no opportunities for large increases in crop production.
Project cooperatives and householders have historically kept livestock
as a means of augmenting their incomes from crop production. There
are some unused uplands suitable for pasture development and opportunities
to make better use of available feed resources. The shortages in
food supply have led to the cultivation of hillside slopes, resulting
in environmental degradation and greater risks of flooding.
Planned
Achieved
To develop pasture for
goat production through the conversion of sloping land under cultivation
and of scrub.
To implement soil conservation measures, such as gully
rehabilitation, the building of stone contour-bunds and the channelling
of minor watercourses.
By the end of 2001, improved
varieties of grasses and clovers had been established on 8 500 hectares
of grazing land. Pasture development was proceeding as planned,
although some doubts were expressed about the ability of the new
species to survive unmanaged in the project grazing areas.
No information is yet available on the progress of the soil-conservation
measures.
Livestock feed
At project
appraisal, it was observed that the farmers were relying on crop
residues, purpose-grown fodder and supplementary maize as a feed
base. The feeding system was handicapped primarily by a lack of
protein, vitamins and minerals to balance the fibre and starch content
and secondarily by a deficiency in digestible energy. As a result,
off-take levels were lower than they would have been under a balanced
diet. The situation was aggravated by a lack of foreign exchange
for the purchase of feed. The limited availability of feed had led
to a reduction in the number of animals raised by cooperatives and
individuals.
Planned
Achieved
To provide foreign exchange
to allow the importation of feed. Working-capital loans were to
be supplied to cooperatives, principally for the purchase of feed.
To rehabilitate eight existing feed mills and construct two new
ones. Working-capital loans were to be provided to feed mills.
In the absence of sufficient
feed from local sources, the project provided funds for the procurement
of raw feed materials from China for onward credit-lending to feed
mills. This feed was later sold to the cooperatives.
Feed mills were rehabilitated and constructed as planned.
Animal husbandry
The poor hilly
areas of the country are well suited to specialized activities such
as livestock-rearing, especially since the opportunities for improving
income and nutrition through crop development are extremely limited.
Individual householders purchase breeding, laying or fattening stock
from their cooperatives. Despite a good standard of husbandry, animal
productivity levels are low due to an unbalanced feeding regime.
Householders are free to sell livestock products in the farmers’
markets or to the state purchasing unit. Livestock products provide
protein for home consumption, and their sale produces a significant
component of household annual cash incomes. Women play an important
role in animal-rearing.
Planned
Achieved
To procure 20 000 breeding
goats and supply them to cooperative farms and individual households.
To construct five small-scale chicken layer-breeding units with
hatcheries.
To construct a chicken layer and broiler-breeding unit with hatchery.
To construct 20 broiler-chicken-fattening units.
To establish and equip a broiler-processing unit to process and
chill a minimum of 450 000 broilers per year.
To provide support to Kusong Goose Breeding Farm in the form of
renovation work and the provision of breeder geese, incubators,
hatcheries and vehicles.
To provide support for training in poultry-raising, to be supplied
by the Poultry Engineering Research Institute.
By the time of the mid-term
review, 13 060 goats had been procured and distributed to cooperative
farms and individual households, contributing to an increase in
goat numbers. However, by 2000, goat populations had reached the
1994 levels, and it was decided to halt goat importation due to
pasture constraints.
Five chicken layer-breeding units were built. The project had procured
specialized layer-breeding and hatching equipment and vans. However,
it was suggested that the breeding units were being underutilized,
partly due to climatic constraints (a lack of sufficient light).
The layer and broiler-breeder unit was constructed, equipped and
operational by December 1998. A total of 335 600 birds had been
distributed by September 2000.
All 20 broiler-fattening units were completed and operational by
December 2000. However, their economic viability was uncertain due
to the lack of a steady supply of chicks from breeder units.
The broiler-processing plant was established, but was faced with
the same problem of low utilization, worsened by the limited market
for the processed birds.
At Kusong Goose Hatchery and Breeding Farm, six rearing sheds were
renovated, provided with computerized incubators, fully equipped
and supplied with breeding geese. The production target is 240 000
eggs per annum.
The Poultry Engineering Research Institute prepared a comprehensive
teaching plan in February 1998 covering poultry, waterfowl and goat
production. Several veterinarians, technicians, farm managers and
personnel were trained. In 1999, it conducted a three-day training
workshop for veterinary officers from the ten project counties,
as well as a workshop for cooperative-level technicians. The project
engaged a poultry consultant to carry out training. Nevertheless,
it was noted that project staff still demonstrated limited understanding
of technical issues relating to poultry.
Animal health
Prior to the
project, veterinary services were provided and disease control activities
performed by veterinary centres situated in each county. However,
these centres were faced with a lack of equipment, transport for
field visits and cold storage facilities. Where equipment existed,
it was found to be obsolete and non-functional, limiting diagnostic
capabilities.
Planned
Achieved
To rehabilitate and re-equip
the ten veterinary service centres within the project area.
The veterinary centres
were supplied with equipment and bicycles for transport. Although
their performance has been enhanced, their diagnostic and treatment
facilities remain limited.
Lessons learned
Credit to micro-enterprises has proven to be a powerful tool to increase
income levels of the households in this project. Assistance for micro-enterprises
provided under the project has brought substantial benefits to the participating
households.
Support services play a vital role in ensuring success of the micro-enterprise.
The participating households are quickly moving from keeping a few chickens
and a pig to rearing a wider variety of livestock in substantial numbers.
This requires training in improved management practises, regular vaccination
and disease control measures.
In order to foster sustainability, projects should ensure that the
supply of inputs relevant to the continuation of project activities
is guaranteed, or that alternative sources of supply can be developed.
The inability of breeder farms to supply stock jeopardized the operations
of the fattening units.
There is a need to promote adaptive research in areas such as herd
improvement, disease control and surveillance, fodder production and
pasture development as an essential component in the development of
a sustainable animal production system.
Facilities must be appropriately designed in order to avoid compromising
project activities. At appraisal, the layer and broiler houses had not
been designed with controlled lighting, even though lighting increases
the egg output, feed conversion and growth rates.
The development and utilization of local, rather than imported, feed
should be encouraged in order to promote the long-term sustainability
of project activities.
Project information
Total cost: USD 32.8 million. Livestock cost (as a percentage
of total): 36%. Duration: The project was approved on 4 December 1997
and is to be implemented over five years.
Beneficiaries: the livestock activities in North Pyongan Province will
benefit 117 cooperatives, representing approximately 47 000 households,
or 210 000 individuals. The crop production interventions in the densely
populated provinces of South Pyongan and North and South Hwanghae will
benefit some 436 000 households in 450 cooperatives. The funds generated
from the sale of agricultural inputs will be used to finance other poverty-alleviation
activities.
United Nations Office for Project Services, Project Supervision
Report, November 1998.
United Nations Office for Project Services, Project Supervision
Report, October 1999.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Country
Strategic Opportunities Paper, Asia and the Pacific Division Programme
Management Department, March 2000.
D.P.R. Korea. “Upland Food Security Project”:
Formulation Mission, Back to Office Report, May 2000.
United Nations Office for Project Services, Project Supervision
Report, December 2000.
United Nations Office for Project Services, Project Supervision
Report, October 2001.
