Background:
Taita Taveta County is located approximately 360 km southeast of Nairobi and 200 km
northwest of Mombasa, and is a port and major gateway to the United Republic of Tanzania
through Taveta town. The county, whose headquarters are situated in Mwatate sub-county, is
one of the six counties in the Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani(JKP) regional economic bloc. The
major towns in the County include Voi, Taveta, Mwatate and Wundanyi.
The county covers a total area of 17,084.1km2 with 10,649.9 km2
(62.3%) being within Tsavo
East and Tsavo West National Parks, providing a major tourism destination. Water bodies
within the county occupy 106 km2
comprising of Lakes Jipe and Chala in Taveta sub-county.
The rest of the area is spread within public and private land such as ranches. Sisal estates and
hilltop forests occupy less than 100 km2
.
The projected 2022 population of the county stands at 360,000 with a gender split of 51%
being male and 49% being female. The population density per km2
in the county ranges from
6 persons in rural areas to more than 900 persons in urban areas. The population distribution in
the county is influenced by cultural heritage, rainfall and terrain. The main ethnic groups in the
county include: Taita, Taveta, Kambas, Maasai, Luos, Kikuyu and Somalis.
The lower regions of the County receive an average of 440 mm of rain per annum whereas the
highlands receive up to 1900 mm. Altitudes range from 500 metres above sea level to almost
2300 m at the highest point in the county Vuria Peak. The highest temperature of the County is
32 degrees celcius while the lowest is 15 degrees celcius.
The size of the county arable land is 2,055 km2 while non-arable land is 14,307 Km2
.There are
48 forests in Taita Taveta County, 28 of which are gazetted and managed by the national
government. The size of the gazetted forests is 1,489.80 ha, non-gazetted forests is 9,000 ha and the
6
approximate forest cover is 3.41%. The forests range in size from 500 m2
to 2 km2
encompassing
both exotic and indigenous forest mountains. In addition, they form part of a unique Eastern
Arch range of forests made up of the Taita Hills and Eastern Tanzania mountains. The Taita
Hills have a unique biodiversity of flora and fauna with 9 species of animals and 13 species of
plants exclusively found within the region. The water mass of the County is 106 Km2
.
The main activity in the County is crop farming; food crops and cash crops. The total acreage
under food crops is 44787.85 acres and 8144.59 acres under cash crops. The main food crops
are maize, beans, rice, greengrams and bananas while the main cash crops are macadamia,
ovacadoes, assorted vegetables, mangoes, sisal and french beans.

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