Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said his country will face a shortage of 150,000 tons of maize this year due to poor rains in parts of the southern African country, the official Times of Zambia newspaper reported Monday.

Addressing a public rally at Lufwanyama in Copperbelt Province Sunday, Mwanawasa said his government would not fail to import the deficit as the country has recently reached the completion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, hence qualifying for a 3.9-billion-US-dollar debt relief.

He assured the nation that the hunger in 2002 induced by poor rains will not occur again, he said.

Zambia has reported poor rains in its western, southern and central parts in the just ended rain season, sparking fear of widespread famine.

"In 2002, there was hunger in the country and government has rejected GMO (genetically modified organism) maize from donors who predicted that a considerable number of people would die of hunger, but this did not happen and I can assure you that no one will die, " he said.

The president also said that the Food Reserve Agency still has 111,000 tons of maize in stock, which would be able to last for three months.

Source: Xinhua