More than 50,000 hectares of farmland in North Korea's granary zones have been damaged by drought, a US broadcaster reported Tuesday, citing UN data. 

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a spell of dry weather has continued in the North's main agricultural land as the precipitation there dropped by 30-80 percent in January, compared with that in previous years, Radio Free Asia said.

"The yield in Pyongan and Hwanghae Provinces and Nampo City is expected to decline 30-80 percent this year from a year ago due to the drought in some 50,000 hectares of farmland there," the broadcaster said.