LUSAKA, Dec 26, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) - The World Food program (WFP) said here Thursday it has secured a further 9,400 tons of relief food for distribution to hunger-stricken areas in Zambia.
Sibi Lawson, public relations officer of the WFP country office, told journalists that the relief food is an addition to the 23,400 tons of relief food sourced by the Zambian government.
She said the food components, which contains maize and vegetable oil, will be distributed to Central, Southern, Eastern and Northern provinces.
She explained the relief food was for the month of December only but that another consignment of food was expected in the country for the month of January.
Meanwhile, the WFP country office said it is still removing the genetically modified (GM) relief food maize out of the country.
The exercise follows the Zambian government's rejection of GM relief food.
Lawson explained the exercise has taken long because of the bulkiness of the maize that was brought in the country.
She however said the WPF is doing everything possible to ensure that all the maize was removed out of the country.
Hunger-stricken villagers had started looting GM relief food from storage sheds despite the government's directive that the said food should not be consumed.
Lawson said all the maize will be taken to Malawi, where that government has accepted it.
The WFP is the United Nations front line agency in the fight against global hunger.
The Zambia government recently rejected GM maize, saying among other things that there was no scientific evidence to prove that the maize was suitable for human consumption.
Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.
Copyright (c) 2002 Comtex News Network
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 12/26/2002 09:15:24