Muheza District, officially the, Muheza District Council (''Wilaya ya Muheza'', in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

) is one of eleven administrative

districts 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 ...

Tanga Region Tanga Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions of Tanzania, regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Burundi. The regional capital is the municipalit ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the north by

Mkinga District Mkinga District, officially the, Mkinga District Council (''Wilaya ya Mkinga'', in Swahili) is one of eleven administrative districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. It was created from Muheza District in 2007. The District covers an area of . The ...

, to the east by

Tanga Tanga may refer to: Places Burkina Faso * Tanga, Andemtenga, a town in eastern Burkina Faso * Tanga, Sidéradougou, a village in western Burkina Faso * Tanga-Pela, a village in northern-central Burkina Faso Tanzania * Tanga Region, Tanzanian a ...

and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, to the south by the

Pangani District Pangani District Council () is one of eleven administrative districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the north by Muheza District, to the east by Zanzibar Channel, to the south by the Chalinze Dis ...

and

Handeni District Handeni District is one of the 11 districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the west by the Kilindi District and the Handeni Urban District, to the north by the Korogwe District, to the east by t ...

, and to the west by the Korogwe District. The district is comparable in size to the land area of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. The town of Muheza, after which the district is named, serves as its administrative capital. According to the 2012 Tanzania National Census, the population of Muheza District had decreased to 238,260; this is less than ten years before, because Mkinga District was created that same year. The highest point in Muheza District is Kimbo Peak at 1,063m.

Administrative subdivisions

Muheza District Council is one of Tanga Region's eleven councils in terms of administration. It is divided into Amani, Bwembwera, Ngomneni, and Muheza divisions. The council consists of 135 villages, 522 hamlets, and 37 wards.

Wards

As of 2012, Muheza District is administratively divided into 33 wards: # Amani # Bwembwera #

Genge Genge music is a genre of hip-hop music influenced by dancehall, originating from Nairobi, Kenya in the 1990s. The term " Genge" was coined by producer Clemo and popularized by Kenyan rappers Jua Cali and Nonini at Calif Records. The genre is ...

# Kicheba # Kigombe # Kilulu # Kisiwani # Kwafungo # Kwakifua # Kwemkabala # Lusanga # Magila # Magoroto # Majengo # Masuguru # Mbaramo # Mbomole # Mhamba # Misalai # Misozwe # Mkuzi # Mlingano # Mpapayu # Mtindiro # Ngomeni # Nkumba # Pande Darajani # Potwe #

Songa Songa is a Burundian town and '' colline'', seat of the Commune of Songa, in Bururi Province. Geography The town is located on a plain in the central-eastern area of its municipality; and is crossed by the national road RN 16 and by the provinci ...

# Tanganyika # Tingeni # Tongwe # Zirai

Geography

The District is located between 4° 54' 18" S latitude and 38° 55' 23" L longitude.The 1,497 square kilometer E. Muheza District Council makes up around 7.0 percent of the 28,055 square kilometer Tanga Region's total land area. The Kwafungo ward has the largest surface area (110 km²; 7.4%), followed by Kigombe ward (98 km²; 6.6%) and Amani ward (91 km²; 6.1%). The ward with the smallest surface area, nevertheless, was Masuguru, at 0.8 square kilometers (0.1%). However, the majority of the council's surface area (1,483.6 km²; 99.1%) is made up of land, and only 13 km² (0.9%) of it is water in the Kigombe ward. The district is traversed by the

Pangani River The Pangani River (''Mto Pangani'', in Swahili language, Swahili), (also called Luffu and Jipe Ruvu, especially in older sources, and probably once called Rhaptus) is a major river of northeastern Tanzania. It has two main sources: the Ruvu Jip ...

and the Sigi River.

Climate

The Muheza region has a

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of or higher in the coolest month, featuring hot te ...

. The wettest month is February, with an average rainfall of only 40 mm, and the wettest season has substantially more rain. The most precipitation occurs in April, when there is an average of 199 mm. There is a 159 mm difference in rainfall between the wettest and driest months. The maximum average temperature is 27.2 °C in February. July is the coldest month of the year, averaging 22.8 °C. The

Usambara mountains The Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania in tropical East Africa, comprise the easternmost ranges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The ranges are approximately long and about half that wide, and they are situated in the Lushoto District ...

, with their highlands and foothills, have an impact on the climate in Muheza DC.

Economy

Infrastructure

Trunk, regional, district, and feeder roads all provide service to Muheza District Council. There was a total road network of 932 km in 2015, broken down into ward and type lengths. Roads that are maintained by the district council are known as district or feeder roads, while those that are maintained by the central government are categorized as trunk or regional roads. The remaining roads are known as feeder or peripheral roads, and the majority of them are maintained by village/mitaa communities. On average, trunk roads made up 45 kilometers (4.8%) of the entire road network. District roads were 246 kilometers long (26.4%), while regional roads were 122 kilometers long (13.1%). A total of 519 kilometers, or 55.7%, were made up by feeder roads. Paved trunk road T13 from Segera to

and the

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n border passes through the district. The Tanga-Arusha Railway passes through the district as well.

Agriculture

For the citizens of Muheza District Council,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

remained their main source of income. More over 79 percent of households in the council were engaged in agriculture, according to the 2012 Population and Housing Census.

Maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

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, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

, and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s are the main food crops produced by Muheza District Council, while

oranges The orange, also called sweet orange to distinguish it from the bitter orange (''Citrus × aurantium''), is the fruit of a tree in the family Rutaceae. Botanically, this is the hybrid ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', between the pomelo (''Citrus m ...

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

, and

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

are grown as commercial crops. To boost their salaries, however, some council members grow food crops as cash crops. After natural resources,

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

is the third most significant economic activity for the people of Muheza District Council. According to the 2012 Population and Housing Census, a total of 21,821 households in the council kept cattle, or 45.8% of all households in the council. In 2015, the Muheza District Council had a total of 302,484 livestock. The most prevalent livestock was chicken, with 230,070 (76.1%) populations, followed by goats (37,409; 12.4%), and cattle (27,999; 9.3%). The three types of livestock with the lowest population density were donkeys (212, or 0.1%), pigs (2,688, or 0.9%), and sheep (4,106, or 1.4%).

Natural resources

Forestry potential is another gift to Muheza District Council. To meet the demand for fire wood, charcoal, timber, and building materials, the Muheza forests are overexploited. To avoid the effects of excessive

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

, efforts have been made to conserve some woods. As of now, the council has natural forest reserves spanning 30,127 hectares and forest plantations covering 11,273 hectares, for a total forest cover of 41,400 hectares encircled by 16 wards.

Fishing

Due to the scarcity of water bodies in Muheza DC, fishing is not a common economic activity. Only individuals who were organized into a group and started fishing ventures in the Indian Ocean engage in small-scale

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

in one ward. In 2015, there were 256 fishermen in the Kigombe ward of the council, and 185 of them (72.3 percent) possessed fishing licenses. The council, on the other hand, possessed 167 vessels, of which more than half—97 (58.1 percent)—are registered and 70 (41.9 percent) are not. Additionally, the council produced 50,654 kg of fish valued 174.8 million in total in 2015.

Mining

Sands are a type of mineral deposit that is found in minor quantities in Ngomeni ward and is accessible to the district council. About 4,200,000 kg of sand, worth TZS 16,800,000, are extracted by the council in 2015. However, in comparison to other productive industries like agriculture and cattle, its economic impact on the council is still insignificant.

Tourism

The Muheza District Council is blessed with historical and nature sites that have a lot of potential for attracting tourists for cultural travel. The historic sites are underdeveloped, however the natural sites are open to the public. The Amani, Magoroto and NILO Forest Reserves, as well as Kigombe Beach, are among the tourist sites that the Muheza District Council's citizens and visitors can visit.

Population

The

Bondei The Bondei People ( Swahili: ''Wabondei'') are a Bantu ethnic group based in Muheza District and Pangani District of eastern Tanga Region in Tanzania. The Bondei speak Kibondei, a Bantu language and are culturally related to the Shambaa an ...

, Sambaa, and Zigua are the three main indigenous ethnic groups represented in Muheza District Council, which had a population of 204,461 as per the 2012 Population and Housing Census. The Bondei and Sambaa are the two largest ethnic groups in the council, making up more than 80% of the Muheza population and engaging primarily in agriculture. Within the council, there are few and dispersed Zigua groups.

Demographics

Muheza District Council saw a population gain of 32,893 people (19.2 percent) between 2002 and 2012, going from 171,568 to 204,461. Males saw a growth of 14,692 people, or 17.1 percent, from 86,151 in 2002 to 100,843 in 2012, while females saw an increase of 18,201 people, or 21.3 percent, from 85,417 in 2002 to 103,618 in 2012. In 2012, Muheza DC had a share of the regional population of 10.0 percent across the councils.

Education and heatlh

Education

In 2011, Muheza District Council has 4 private

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

s in addition to 111 public primary schools. The number of private primary schools increased from 4 in 2011 to 7 in 2015, while the number of public primary schools in the council stayed the same. With five public elementary schools apiece, Bwembwera, Kilulu, Lusanga, and Ngomeni Wards led the pack at the ward level, while Kwabada, Kwemingoji, and Masuguru Wards had the fewest (2 each). From 2011 to 2015, a five-year span, neither the number of public

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s in Muheza District Council increased nor decreased.Genge and Mlingano Wards had the most public secondary schools per ward (2). Except for Majengo Ward, which lacked a public secondary school, the remaining wards each had one.

Health

There were 47 medical facilities within Muheza District Council. Only one private hospital, two public and two private health clinics, and 44 public dispensaries were located inside the Tanganyika Ward of the council. However, there was only one health center per ward, with Misalai, Mkuzi, Mbaramo, and Genge being the exceptions. With two public dispensaries each, Mtindiro, Kwafungo, Zirai, Misalai, and Kisiwani were the most fortunate wards. Amani and Kigombe wards each had 3 dispensaries (one public and two private), and Kisiwani and Misalai wards each had 3 dispensaries (2 public and one private). Ideally, there is a health center in every ward of the council.

References

{{Authority control Districts of Tanga Region