Mbeya Region Website

Kyela District Council was re-established in 1984 after series landmarks that led to the enacting of Local Governments Act no. 7 (District Authorities) of 1982.  It is one of 8 councils comprising of Mbeya Region.

 

According to 2002 census Kyela had a total population of 174,470 having an annual population growth of 2.4%. In the year 2009 it is projected to be 208,845 out of which the number of female is 108,069 where men are 100,776.

Kyela District council is divided into two divisions: Ntebela and Unyakyusa, 15 Wards which are subdivided into 101 villages with 383 Hamlets.

There is 1 major ethnic group found in Kyela District namely Nyakyusa. Other ethnic groups are Ndali, Kinga, Ngoni and Kisi. 

Kyela District Council is located in the Southern end of Mbeya region and it is one among seven Districts in the region.  The district lies between 35o 41 and 30o Longitudes East of Greenwich and 9o 25 and 9o 40 Latitudes South of Equator. In the East Kyela District borders with Makete and Ludewa Districts in Iringa region, in the West with Ileje District in the North with Rungwe District in Mbeya Region and South the District borders with Republic of Malawi and Lake Nyasa.

Kyela District has two distinct agro – ecological zones, the lowland and upland zone, the Lowland zone is found at lower than 1200 meters above the sea level and the upland zone is found at over 1200 meters above the sea level. Large area of low land zone is subject to flooding, threatening house hold`s survival thus calls for special attention.  The two zones are drained by four major rivers: Songwe, Kiwira, Mbaka and Lufilyo. The altitude in lowland zones lies between 500 – 1200 meters above the sea level and 1200 – 2400 meters above the sea level in upland zones, rainfall in lowland zones is 1600 – 2400 mm and in upland zones is 1000 – 2000 mm, soil types in lowland zones is mainly Alluvial soils and Feral soils. 

Kyela District main rain season is between November to June with a mean annual rainfall between 2000mm and 3000mm.  Normally in April and May the District experiences heavy rainfall. The District has a warm and humid climate with mean daily temperature of 23o C. The natural vegetation is of tropical savanna forest and grass lands with lagoon vegetation on the swamps and river mouths to the Lakes.

The District has an area of 1322 km2   (132,200 hectares).  The table below describes the   distribution of the Land use pattern in the District.

 

The economy of Kyela District is mainly based on productive sectors such as transportation, small scale industries, Tourism, Fishing, business activities and Agriculture. Agriculture is a major dominant sector of production and it employs about 80% of the total population in the District and the remaining sectors employ only 20%. The highest amount of District GDP comes from agricultural activities. 

Kyela District is a low land area. About 15% of its area i.e. 130.8 km2 is low land. This type of topography is an added advantage for easy construction of various infrastructures especially road net works from the point of production to the point of consumption (markets), either within or outside the District. There are some satellites centres established in the District which serves as nearby markets. These centres are Kasumulu, Ipinda, Kyela Town, Busale and Ngyekye.

Feeder roads are connected to these centres which have access to District, Regional and National roads. Thus transportation of inputs and outputs in this District is encouraging.  In some areas where there is enough population, producers sell their products in the same area and also get enough labour to be used in production processes.   On the other hand the forward and backward link can be mainly applied so as to ease production and marketing processes.

However, industrial concentration will make the use of residues of one industry as raw materials to another, for example an industry processing palm oil carnal, its residues can be used as the raw materials for industry processing animal feeds

Industrialization in Kyela District has not yet matured but few small processing industries such as palm oil processing industries, carpentry and paddy husking industries exist. The major reason for low industrialization is due to the fact that the technology used is poor resulting into low production. Also under capitalization inhibits local Business men to engage into large scale production.