In the center of the country, river pollution due to mining is worrying farmers. It is not only illegal miners who pollute the water with mercury, there are also companies that dump pollutants at night.

Fernando Chicote is afraid of the water he uses in agriculture. The farmer says that the water is contaminated because of mining in the region. This has already affected many of his crops.

"It affects it very negatively. Irrigating, using that muddy water, the crops won't develop and the animals that live in those waters won't survive," Chicote told DW Africa.

Farmers ask for supervision of the companies

Chicote calls on local leaders to increase enforcement to stop illegal mining. He also calls for changes in water catchment, drainage, and treatment to ensure that water from mining companies is not mixed with other water.

"They should create a way to at least have some engines that can pull that water from the rivers and open up a pond. Something that makes their projects easier, so that the water doesn't mix with that clean water. Because that's the water we use to give to the animals and for our own consumption. And not counting the irrigation of the fields."

Samuel Tembo, an agronomist and environmental activist, warns that illegal mining of precious ores, including gold, is impregnating the waters with mercury.

"This practice of illegal mining ends up causing damage to the producer. So one of the mechanisms to find a way out is to create conditions to make illegal miners aware of the damage they are causing by polluting the waters."

Domestic and foreign pollutants

According to the governor of Manica, Francisca Tomás, this situation is the province's great "Achilles heel". And it is not only the miners who pollute. The waters are also contaminated by national and foreign mining companies, for example, from neighboring Zimbabwe, explains Tomás. 

In Manica two companies have already been suspended for dumping polluting waste into rivers.

"There are some companies that are not very honest. They may have a water well to wash their minerals, but at night they end up draining the water into the rivers. In those places where the rivers pass there is no agricultural activity anymore, because the waters are not fit for irrigation," said Tomás.

The agricultural potential in the region is great, adds the governor. The production in the districts of Manica and Báruè could be enough to solve the food problems of the entire province. With the pollution of the rivers, the health of the population is also put at risk.