Maravi

2007 Floods in Zambia and Mozambique (ZOL Forums Reply)

Nell,

" The rains this year have brought floods to Zambia and Mozambique. What immediately comes to mind are the following questions:
What is the water level of the Kariba dam ? Is there a possibility that the gates may have to be opened a situation that would cause futher misery for our comarades in Mozambique. Is the government taking stock and looking at the impact these floods will have on the budget announced last Friday ? Who actually is invested with inspecting the intergrity of Kariba and is this being done. While ours is a country of laws sometimes we forget to do the most basic of things so I'm just asking....? "

I'm replying on my own blog because I have been (temporarily?) banned from the ZOL Forums. I think every time I mention this blog I get banned - the same thing happened this morning. Ok...

When you are talking about floods, you are talking about deforestation. Trees and vegetation capture moisture in the soil, in their root, stems and leaves.

Considering that most of Zambia's agriculture depends rainfall, it is a shame that the government has not invested more in riverine irrigation, and especially rainwater catchment.

Especially now that the carbon surplus is a hot item (Richard Branson issued a $25 million reward for someone who will find a solution), there should be money available for creating huge rainwater catchment systems in Zambia.

Think of the difference in luscious soil and dried out soil not in the amount of rainfall, but in the speed with which water moves from the rainfall area, to the nearest rivers. That way, the solution is to slow down the movement of water across the land.

The best way of doing that, is to create a healthy and humus rich topsoil, which will absorb water, and slow evaporation and (through gravity) make water move through the soil, instead of on top of it. That is the slowest possible movement of water across the land - through it.

One way that can be done, is to dig swales, which are nothing more than very shallow ditches across a hillside. This creates a minor paddy effect, like you see in rice paddies.

Another is to dig rainwater catchment ponds, which can also be used to stock fish, or support cattle.

A third is to use water crystals, which absorb 800 times their weight in water, and slowly release it to the vegetation. This is especially effective in sandy soils, which can then be planted with hardy grasses and shrubs. Polymers also reduce the need for irrigation by 50%, and reduce stress on the plants, which leads to better growth. (See: http://www.watersorb.com/index.htm )

It is always a shame to hear of floods in countries that are otherwise suffering from droughts. But the cause is almost always the same. Water isn't staying on the land long enough to be absorbed by the soil or vegetation, and the cause is usually deforestation.



On the article: K1 trillion for govt idling in banks, reveals Magande

I learned two important facts from this article.

1) " Kasanga told Magande that although he could not impose interest rates on the market, it was government deposits that were fuelling the problem. He sad the government had too much money in commercial banks. "

and...

2) " Magande was concerned that the government was borrowing its own money that was held in commercial banks. "My borrowing from the banks was 1.5 per cent of GDP so I was borrowing my own money. We asked the central bank to get all this money, the BoZ account. However, to our surprise, we had protests from commercial banks and some cooperating partners and we wondered why," he said. "

So that paints a picture of why lending rates remain so high at commercial banks. Either government should use this money for well monitored development projects, or convert it into gold.

There is so much money to be saved from properly monitoring government expenditures and incomes, and keeping track of these accounts, that it isn't even funny. We are literally talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, and now it gets confirmed nearly every day.

But all these developments are great though. I think the amounts of money are so large, that no one can get around doing something about this issue.

Also, maravi.blogspot.com is a good place to move out to, when there is stuff going on at ZOL again. Please bookmark it. Any comments that are posted there are immediately mailed to my e-mail address, so I notice new comments there as soon as I'm behind my computer. :)

Labels: CORRUPTION, FLOODS

posted by MrK @ 9:46 PM