Itigi District is a district council in the

Singida Region Singida Region (''Mkoa wa Singida'' in Swahili) is one of the regions of Tanzania. The regional capital is the municipality of Singida. The region is bordered to the north by Shinyanga Region, Simiyu Region and Arusha Region, to the northeast by ...

of central

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

established in 2015. The district lies in the south-western portion of the Singida Region with 279,069 people and encompasses a large area mostly made up of protected game reserves.

History

The district was created by separation of the town of

Itigi Itigi is a town in central Tanzania. It is located in Itigi District of the Singida Region. The town is made up of the wards Itigi and Itigi Majengo. According to the 2012 Tanzania National Census, the population of these two wards combined was ...

and its division from the

Manyoni District Manyoni District is one of the six districts in the Singida Region of Tanzania. The district capital is the town of Manyoni. The district is bordered to the north by the Ikungi District, to the east by the Dodoma Region, to the south by the Irin ...

on the 25th of September, 2015.

Geography

North of the district is the

Ikungi District Ikungi District is one of the six districts of the Singida Region of Tanzania. It is one of the 20 new districts that were formed in Tanzania since 2010; it was split off from Singida Rural District. Ikungi District is bordered to the north by I ...

, east is the Manyoni District, south is the Chunya District of the Mbeya Region, and to the west are the

Uyui Uyui District is one of the seven districts of the Tabora Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by Nzega District and Igunga District as well as by the Shinyanga Region, to the south by Sikonge District, to the west by Urambo District ...

and Sikonge Districts of the Tabora Region. The district covers an area of , while the region lies on a large

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

at altitudes of to with cliffs of encircling most of the region at its borders.

Climate

The district's climate is

hot semi-arid Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand **Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot District ...

with the BSh Koppen-Geiger system classification. The average temperature is with an average rainfall of .

Flora and fauna

In the district the

Rungwa Game Reserve The Rungwa Game Reserve is a protected area in Tanzania that covers an area of . It was established in 1951. It is situated in Itigi District, Singida Region. Since 2005, the protected area is considered a Lion Conservation Unit. The reserve ...

with the other Kizigo and Muhesi game reserves make up the Rungwa-Kizigo-Muhesi ecosystem and covers an area of in Itigi and neighboring districts. With the connected Ruaha National Park, of as well as its other connected protected areas mostly in the Iringa Region, the Ruaha-Rungwa protected area covers around . The Itigi–Sumbu thicket is two small patches of isolated thickets located in the Itigi District of Tanzania, and in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

near Lake Mweru Wantipa and

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

Administrative

The district has one division, 13

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, 39 villages, and 171 hamlets. Wards (2016 Population) * Aghondi (6,000) * Idodyandole (12,291) * Ipande (11,017) * Itigi (6,134) * Itigi Majengo (12,431) * Kalangali (5,241) * Kitaraka (10,656) * Mgandu (15,129) * Mitundu (20,086) * Mwamagembe (7,091) * Rungwa (2,424) * Sanjaranda (9,687) * Tambukareli (5,331)

Demographics

In 2016 the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics report there were 123,515 people in the district, from 112,565 in 2012. People of the district are of the tribes of

Wagogo The Gogo/Gongwe (singular: mgogo, plural: Wagogo) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based in the Dodoma Region of central Tanzania. In 1992 the Gogo population was estimated to number 1,300,00The Gogo have historically been predominantly pa ...

, Waturu, Wanyaturu, Wasukuma, Wanyamwezi, and Wakimbu.

Economy

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and livestock raising are the primary economic activities, along with trade,

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

mining. In the 2018/19 year the Itigi District produced 16,807 metric tons of

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, 2,466.5 tonnes of

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

, 7,027 tonnes of

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

es, and 2,295 tonnes of

finger millet ''Eleusine coracana'', or finger millet, also known as ragi in India, kodo in Nepal, is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species p ...

. The Mgandu Ward has of potential irrigation land under the Itagata Irrigation Scheme for paddy. For grazing, the district has with being used, and a small amount of infected with

Tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glo ...

. In 2019 the Itigi had 108,020 cattle, 62,403 chickens, 857 ducks, 51,314 goats, 1,155 pigs, and 13,637 sheep as livestock.

Education

There are 67

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s, and 12

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

s in the district. In 2019, 7 of the secondary schools had electricity, of which 3 are connected to the grid and 4 use solar power.

Health

There are two

health center A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...

s, and 18

clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...

s in the district. In 2018, 42% of the population had access to clean water.

Infrastructure

Roads

In 2019, the district paved roads, of gravel roads, and of dirt roads for a total road network of .

Rail

There is currently a station in use on the Central Line. A new station for the under construction Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway is being built in Itigi.

References

{{Authority control

Districts of Singida Region Constituencies of Tanzania