"We cannot live properly with this polluted water," the pregnant 23-year-old said among the cabbages, amaranth and other vegetables at her plot in DR Congo's southeastern mining region.
Irrigation channels from the Luano river can be seen weaving paths through fields to bring water to feed the crops.
But acidity in the water hampers agricultural production and causes health problems such as skin and eye complaints, villagers say.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa's top producer of copper, vital for energy storage, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.
It is also the world's largest producer of cobalt -- a key component of batteries used in electronics and electric vehicles.
For more than 100 years, an abundance of mineral wealth has driven economic activity in the vast country's second biggest city, Lubumbashi.
But the mines also produce water, air and ground pollution, NGOs say, demanding tighter regulation of the sector.
Lying on the outskirts of the city, the Luano river is the main discharge point for wastewater from the nearby Ruashi mine, three NGOs said in a report in 2021.
Environmental charity PremiCongo, Afrewatch, which campaigns for fair use of natural resources, and ACIDH human rights group conducted a study among people living near the large open cast mine operated by Ruashi Mining.
Chinese company Jinchuan Group owns a 75-percent share in Ruashi Mining, while Congolese business Gecamines owns the rest.
"The three communities are some of the poorest people in Lubumbashi," Christian Bwenda, PremiCongo coordinator, told AFP.
- 'Sore eyes' -
Crops do not grow in the acidic earth as they used to, say the farmers, who resort to buying fertilisers.
Mifie, who declined to give her full name, earns 200,000 Congolese francs ($70) a month.
But a packet of fertiliser costs 2,500 Congolese francs (about 90 cents) and sometimes she buys as many as five a day.
"I work a lot to earn a little. I don't have enough income," said another farmer Emmie Kasungo, standing with her three daughters in tall stalks of corn.
Strawberry farmer Celestin, who also declined to give his full name, does not use fertilisers as customers want organic fruit.
"People prefer to not consume strawberries with polluted water," he also said.
But standing in knee-high wellington boots, he told AFP that he had suffered skin problems which he blamed on water from the Luano river.
"When I was working without boots, I had some sores. It hurt," he said.
Teacher Ngoy Therese, 58, says around 60 percent of the children she sees have health issues related to the water in the area and dust from the mine.
"We have people with sore eyes," she told AFP.
Local activist Christophe Kabwita pointed to marks on his skin which he believes come from mining pollution.
Around the mine "new illness" has appeared that was not there before, he said.
- 'Avoid the water' -
Lubumbashi University professor Arthur Kaniki, who also helps run its environmental analysis laboratory, has carried out studies of rivers near mining sites in Upper Katanga province where Lubumbashi is the main city.
He said water near many mines often shows a "state of pollution" and, in some rivers, an "elevated concentration" of copper and cobalt.
Pollution from the "presence of solid matter" is "generated from mining", he said.
"This risks contaminating the food chain, it's an enormous risk for the health of the population," Kaniki told AFP.
"We have asked the population to avoid using this water, especially for direct consumption or for watering (plants)."
Sediment collected from the village of Luano shows that the water is acidic, while tests of the Luano river show the same, the 2021 study said.
"The problem of pollution always exists where there are areas of mines," Georges Mawine, former mines minister for Upper Katanga, told AFP.
In response to AFP requests for comment, Ruashi Mining said it conducted environmental monitoring but gave no information on the results.
"We have an environmental department that regularly takes water and air samples," Elisa Kalasa, social and community head of department for Ruashi Mining, told AFP in an email.
"Ruashi Mining has improved water for the community in partnership with (water company) Regideso," she added, without giving details.
But for Bwenda, the solution is simple.
"The company must take all measures possible so that the negative impacts on the life of people are reduced as much as possible," he said.
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