North Korea's grain production last year decreased significantly mainly due to severe drought, a U.N. report said Thursday, resulting in a serious impact on food rations for ordinary citizens.

According to the report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and carried by U.S.-based media Voice of America, North Korea's grain production, which is mostly rice, stood at 5.06 million tons last year. This is down 11 percent from 2014.

The VOA said that in some areas of the communist country, the grain production decreased by half due to a drought that has been ongoing for two years in a row.

The grain production decrease also affected the regime's food rationing system. For the first three months of this year, the state-sanctioned food supply was significantly reduced to 370 grams daily per person, the media outlet quoting a FAO spokesperson said.

This is far less than the U.N.'s recommendation of 600 grams as well as the North Korean government's target of 573 grams.

Accordingly, the reduced rationing affected many residents suffering from malnutrition. The rate of North Koreans' malnutrition for 2014 to 2016 period soared to 41.6 percent, which is 6.1 percentage points up from 35.5 percent tallied for the 2005 to 2007 period.

The United Nations has allocated approximately $121 million for various projects to help the impoverished country this year.

The total amount breaks down to $54.7 million for nutritional projects, $29.8 million for health and sanitation, $23.2 million for food aid including fertilizer and farming equipment and $13.90 million to improve the country's tap water sanitary infrastructure.

VOA said the United Nations has experienced a lot of difficulties in assisting North Korea following the international community's tough sanctions on the reclusive country for its nuclear and missile provocations.

Under the circumstances, the number of donators and the amount of donations for helping North Korea have been falling for the past several years.

The international community provided some $300 million in various assistance projects for North Korea in 2003, but this plummeted to $40 million last year.

The FAO spokesperson told VOA that humanitarian assistance should be unrelated to political affairs, asking for more aid for women, children and senior citizens in North Korea so that the vulnerable social group will be able to have their basic needs met. (Yonhap)