Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has directed the country's Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to store enough grain before considering exporting any surplus from this year's harvest, local media reported Saturday.

"I have directed that this year around there should be no export of surplus maize until we have kept at least maize to last us four months," the president was quoted by Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) as saying when he was attending a traditional ceremony in the Eastern province.

Mwanawasa admitted that the Zambian government had made a mistake by blindly exporting the 2004 farming season surplus maize hence the country faced a serious food shortage in the year 2005 following a partial drought.

In November 2005, the president declared the hunger situation that part of the country was facing a "national disaster," paving the way for mobilization of international assistance.

The government said up to 1.7 million people out of the country 's 11 million population were in food shortage.

Mwanawasa assured farmers in the Eastern province that the FRA would buy off their agricultural produce during this year's marketing season.

The president further projected that there would possibly be a bumper harvest judging from the current good rainfall pattern being experienced in the country.

Source: Xinhua