'The people of Niger look well-fed, as you can see,' he told the BBC.
He accepted there were food shortages in some areas after poor rains and locust invasions but said this was not unusual for his country.
Mr Tanja said the idea of a famine was being exploited for political and economic gain by opposition parties and United Nations aid agencies.
The World Food Programme denied that the scale of the problems had been exaggerated.
'We have not spoken about famine but about pockets of severe malnutrition,' WFP spokesman Greg Barrow told the BBC."...
The UN estimates that up to three million of Niger's 12 million population are suffering food shortages.
It says 32,000 children with severe malnutrition could face death without the necessary food and medical treatment.
Aid agencies report that hunger is killing children every day.
Mr Tanja said his government had responded to the crisis by subsidising the price of food since last year.
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