'15,000 tons of Korean rice' delivered to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through the World Food Programme

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs sent 100,000 tons of rice as overseas food aid this year to countries and refugees struggling with food shortages. This is a follow-up measure to last year's Group of Seven (G7) summit, doubling the support volume from 50,000 tons to 100,000 tons and expanding the number of recipient countries from 5 to 11, with Bangladesh and five African countries newly receiving rice aid from the Republic of Korea.

For this food aid, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs carried out processes such as rice milling, packaging, loading, fumigation, and quarantine starting in March. On April 17, a departure ceremony was held at Gunsan Port in Jeonbuk. The 15,000 tons of rice loaded there departed on May 1 and arrived in Bangladesh on May 18 of the same month. The remaining 85,000 tons also departed from Mokpo, Ulsan, and Busan New Port and all arrived at the 11 recipient countries by July 17.

On the 16th, attendees at the ceremony for delivering Korean aid rice at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, are taking a commemorative photo.

After the aid rice arrived in Bangladesh, the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP), cooperating with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, processed the rice into fortified rice by mixing it with rice enriched with zinc, iron, folic acid, vitamin A, B1, and B12 to improve the nutrition of refugees, then repackaged it. A ministry official explained, "Micronutrient deficiencies are worsening in refugee camps due to reduced food distribution, but just consuming this rice can prevent malnutrition."

On the 16th, an event was held at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, to deliver Korean aid rice. The WFP plans to supply this rice to about one million Rohingya refugees temporarily residing in Cox's Bazar and Bashan areas of Bangladesh for one and a half months.

Byun Sang-moon, Director of the Food Policy Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, attended the delivery ceremony and said, "I was worried that there might be resistance to Korean rice, which is not the long-grain type mainly eaten in this region, but fortunately, it was well accepted without any such issues," adding, "We will continue to strive to contribute to overcoming the global food crisis."

Meanwhile, the Ministry plans to provide an additional 10,000 tons of rice this year through the ASEAN+3 Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), which includes 10 ASEAN countries as well as Korea, China, and Japan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.