Chisamba District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Central Province,

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. It covers a total surface area of 5,204.5 sq km and is known for its agricultural activities with over 32,000 small scale farming families and 256 commercial farmers, the majority of whom are white Zambians. It shares borders with

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

, Chongwe, Chibombo,

Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 288,598 at the 2022 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also ...

Kapiri Mposhi Kapiri Mposhi is a Zambian town and the seat of the Kapiri Mposhi District in Central Province. Located north of Lusaka, it stands on the Great North Road and is significant for the railway connection between the Zambia Railways line from Kitw ...

and Luano Districts. As of the 2022 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 160,828 people.2022 Census of Population and Housing - Preliminary Report
(PDF)

History

Chisamba District was created in 2013 (by splitting Chibombo District), due to the efforts of Zambian president

Michael Sata Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who served as the fifth president of Zambia from 2011 until Death and state funeral of Michael Sata, his death in 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patrio ...

. The first District Commissioner was Ferdinard Chipindi. The district's founding was possible due to land given for district development by Chief Chamuka of the Lenje speaking people. At its founding, the district had a population of 87,828. By 2022, this had grown to 160,828. In December 2018, the Mwomboshi Dam was completed on the river of the same name. The project cost $28 million in US dollars. The dam created a reservoir with the capacity to store 61 million cubic meters of water, intended for irrigation. The dam is expected to mitigate the effect of droughts and seasonal variation in rainfall. 250 families were displaced by the dam and reservoir.

Geography

Chisamba district is fed by three rivers, the Mwomboshi, Musuwishi and

Mulungushi Mulungushi is a river (and a small town nearby) in central Zambia which has taken on a symbolic and historical meaning synonymous with the independence and identity of the nation. The name has been given to a number of events, localities, building ...

. It is also surrounded by the

Miombo Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located in central and southern tropical Africa. It includes three woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) chara ...

woodlands, which are a designated bird sanctuary.

Agriculture

Chisamba district lies in the region that has one of the most favorable rain patterns across the central region and falls on the country’s fertile belt that extends from the western reaches of the province through to the easterly-northeast into Mkushi. Chisamba as an area has always been renowned to be championing the agriculture sector in the country even before it was declared a district. The consistency in the climatic and geographical character of the district presents it as one of low-risk potential investment areas in agriculture due to environmental predictability.

Mining

Despite being a known Agriculture district, Chisamba has a number of mineral deposits specifically in Mwantaya ward. Explorations are encouraged to assess the mineral grade and value. Currently, the known mineral deposits in the district include; Gold, Copper, Iron Ore and Silver. Despite this sector not being significantly explored it offers huge investment opportunities which once exploited could be a game changer.

Tourism

Chisamba has potential for Tourism opportunities in the District through the creation of garden routes through the vast farming area and the newly constructed Momboshi Dam which offers opportunities in water-based recreation such as speed boats cruises and sports fishing. This can supplement the renowned food and beer festival that is held annually called the October-Fest and can open opportunities for investment in lodges and hotels to host tourists in the district.

References

Districts of Central Province, Zambia {{Zambia-geo-stub