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Many crops are grown in the Zambezi basin, including wheat, maize, sunflower, sugar cane, soya beans and other vegetables.
Mining
Mining activities are extensive in the Zambezi
basin. Sub-basins such as the Luangwa River,
Lake Kariba, and the Kafue and Kabompo Rivers
have high concentrations of mining operations,
contributing to water pollution in the Zambezi
River (SADC and ZRA 2007). All the streams that
drain mining areas in the Copperbelt region
release waste into Kafue River or its tributary,
the Kafubu River. These are the main sources
of drinking water for most of the towns in the
Copperbelt. Mining operations contribute
to serious environmental problems such as
water pollution caused by acid mine drainage,
cyanide spills in gold mining and heavy metal
contamination (Chenje 2000).
Agriculture
Agriculture plays an important role in sustaining
economic development in most of the basin
countries. Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi
together have 86 per cent of the estimated
5.2 million hectares of the land area cultivated
annually in the basin (SADC and ZRA 2007). Use
of fertilizers and agrochemicals in the basin
contributes to the eutrophication of floodplain
water bodies, especially abandoned channels,
oxbow meanders, and shallow marshes.
Water quality in the basin is also affected by soil
erosion. For example, farming in the Sanyati
catchment area of Zimbabwe, generates
pollution through leaching of nutrients from the
fields (SADC and ZRA 2007).
Gold, copper, tin and coal are some of the minerals
found in the Zambezi basin.
© SADC
© ZACPRO 6.2
© ZACPRO 6.2