Zambezia Province

Zambezia Province exists because the Zambezi delta exists—the massive river system spreading across central Mozambique creates the fertile valleys that made this province one of the country's top agricultural producers, alongside the periodic flooding that destroys the crops that fertility enables. The name itself derives from the river, marking this as Zambezi country in the colonial imagination that drew administrative boundaries.

The province's topography creates economic diversity: tea plantations in the highland areas continue cultivation patterns established under Portuguese rule, while vast coconut palm groves line the coastal zones and rice paddies fill the delta lowlands. Agricultural employment dominates, but the Marropino Tantalum Mine in the interior extracts the mineral that powers capacitors in smartphones and electric vehicles—connecting subsistence farmers to global electronics supply chains.

Pebane's heavy sands deposits add another layer to the extractive economy, with ilmenite and zircon production feeding industrial demand. These mining operations create employment alternatives to farming, but the cash economy they generate also disrupts traditional agricultural labor patterns.

Flooding remains the constant challenge. The same hydrology that creates fertility also concentrates climate risk—when the Zambezi swells, Zambezia's lowlands absorb the damage. Climate models project intensifying flood events as sea levels rise and precipitation patterns shift, threatening agricultural production upon which most residents depend.

The province feeds Mozambique while remaining among its poorest—the paradox of agricultural production that employs many but enriches few, where export crops serve distant markets while local food security remains precarious.

By 2026, Zambezia faces the question confronting all delta regions: how to maintain agricultural productivity as climate change reshapes the hydrology that makes production possible.