Kitui District

Kitui District is an administrative district in the Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kitui. The district has a population of 515,422 (1999 census) and an area of 20,402 km² [http://www.statoids.com/yke.html] .

Government

The district has two local authorities: Kitui municipality and Kitui county council.

Kitui district is divided into eight administrative divisions: Central (Kitui), Kabati, Chuluni, Mutitu, Mwitika, Mutomo (Ikanga), Ikutha and Yatta.

The district has four constituencies:
*Kitui West Constituency
*Kitui Central Constituency
*Kitui South Constituency
*Mutito Constituency

People

Local people are mostly of the Akamba tribe.

Climate

The climate is semi-arid; it receives roughly 71 cm (28 inches). A significant point however is that rainfall occurs practically only during the rainy seasons (one long around May and June, and one short, around September and October).

Education

There are some private secondary schools in the area, however, there are no technical centers of higher learning (known to this editor) in Kitui District.

Economy

The vast majority of the economy is based on sustenance farming, despite the fact that the agriculture is an extremely challenging endeavor giving the sporadic rainfall. A logical move therefore would be a transition to non-agricultural industries.

During a recent, informal survey of the businesses in the town of Ikutha in southern Kitui District, the following businesses were identified:

*Butcheries
*Food Staples (rice, corn meal)
*Mini-markets (sells things like Coca-cola, potatoes chips, bread, long-shelf milk)
*Mechanics
*Pubs
*Hotel and Restaurant

External links

*http://www.kitui.com/
*http://www.aridland.go.ke/districts.asp?DistrictID=16
*http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2006/govt-ken-kitui-31jul.pdf

Industries

Situated in Kitui town is a cotton ginnery where cotton farmers from around the district can deliver their harvest.However low prices and delay of payments in the recent past has discouraged farmers.

There is also a honey refinery THE KITUI HONEY PRODUCTS sitiated outside the town,where beekeepers can sell their honey.