Mpigi 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in Central Uganda. Like most other

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n districts, it is named after its 'main town',

Mpigi Mpigi is a town in Mawokota County, Mpigi District, in Central Uganda. Mpigi is the municipal, administrative and commercial headquarters of Mpigi District. The district is named after the town. Location Mpigi is an important transit town locat ...

Location

Mpigi District is bordered by

Wakiso District Wakiso District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda that partly encircles Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The town of Wakiso is the site of the district headquarters. Kira, the country's second largest city and suburb of Kampala, is i ...

to the north and east,

Kalangala District Kalangala, also known as Ssesse, is a district in Central Uganda. The district is coterminous with the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria and does not have territory on mainland Uganda. Like other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town' ...

to the south,

Kalungu District Kalungu District is a district in Central Uganda. It is named after the main town of the district, Kalungu, where the district headquarters are located. Location Kalungu District is bordered by Gomba District to the north, Butambala District t ...

to the southwest,

Butambala District Butambala District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda. Location This district is bordered by Gomba District to the west and north-west, Mityana District to the north-east, Mpigi District to the east and south, and Kalungu District to ...

to the west and

Mityana District The Mityana District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda. The district was created in 2005, by taking the Mityana and Busujju counties from Mubende District. Mityana is the site of the district headquarters. Location The Mityana Distri ...

to the northwest. The town of

, where the district headquarters are located, lies approximately , by road, west of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

and largest city. The coordinates of the district are:00 14N, 32 20E.

Overview

In the 1970s Mpigi District comprised the

Buganda Kingdom Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Buganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 m ...

counties of ''Kyaddondo'', ''Busiro'', ''Mawokota'', ''Butambala'' and ''Gomba''. During the 1990s, ''Kyaddondo'' and ''Busiro'' were peeled off to form

. In 2010, ''Gomba'' split off to form

Gomba District Gomba is a district in Central Uganda. Location Gomba District is bordered by Mubende District to the west and north, Mityana District to the northeast and Butambala District to the east. Kalungu District, Bukomansimbi District and Sembabule Di ...

and ''Butambala'' became

. ''Mawokota'' remained as the sole constituent of Mpigi District.

Population

In 1991, the district population was estimated at about 157,400. The next census in 2002 estimated the population of the district at about 187,800, with an annual growth rate of 1.4%. In 2012, the population of Mpigi District was estimated at approximately 215,500. The district is primarily a rural district, with only 8.4% of the population living in urban areas.

Education

Mpigi is one of the few areas in Uganda and likely the whole of Africa to have Humanist schools. The Uganda Humanist Schools Trust UHST sponsors 3 Humanist schools with the support of the International Humanist Ethical Union.

Economic activities

The major economic activity in Mpigi District is agriculture. The major crops include: *

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 *

Beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

Cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

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 ...

Bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

* Groundnuts *

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

Tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es *

Cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

Onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

Avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

References

External links

Mpigi District Webpage

Uganda Humanist Schools Trust

Uganda Humanist Schools: A Golden Opportunity to Support a Vision!
{{Authority control Districts of Uganda Central Region, Uganda Lake Victoria