Mbeya Region Website

Agriculture 

About 80% of Kyela population depends on agriculture and the mostly cultivated food crops are paddy, maize, sweet potatoes and groundnuts.  The major cash crops are cocoa and palm oil. The two crops contribute to the income of the people by 65% of their total income and 70% on the district GDP.  Farming activities are being conducted by using traditional implements such as hand hoes and it is family labour based which results into low yields per area thus a need to invite investors to come and  invest in agriculture so that the sector will be improved.

Kyela District is among few Districts in Mbeya Region with little free hold land.  Also the District has got high population density thus the free hold land available for cultivation is subject to land grievances by the people searching for different land use. However the district has potential areas suitable for different investment sectors as shown in the table below:

The District has potential area with 1,118 hectors suitable for investors to invest in agriculture i.e. (paddy, fruits and vegetable production). The main areas are Matema, Kafundo, Kanga, and Makwale. The district also has the potential areas for industries which cover almost 58 hectors. Food processing industries and light industries can be established. 

In Kyela district animal keeping is pre-dominantly another source of income to the rural and urban dwellers. Animals kept are cattle, goats, chicken, pigs and sheep.  About 37% of the population are engaged in animal husbandry where  people sell their animals and animal products such as skins, hides, milk, meat and eggs while the District council collects fees as part of its source of fund.