Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the majority of Iringa households. It estimated that about 82 percent of the households are engaged in agricultural activities.
Iringa Region has an area of 3,580,434 hectares, of which 1,557,465 hectares or
43.5 percent is arable land suitable for crop production and livestock rearing. Of the available arable land, only 582,161 hectares or 37.4 percent is under crop cultivation and livestock keeping. Only a small portion of the remaining arable land of 975,305 hectares is used for other economic activities such as human settlements and natural forests.Thus, there is ample agriculture land in Iringa Region for agriculture and livestock investments. Mufindi District Council has the largest arable land (38.5%) for agriculture and livestock investments, followed by Iringa District Council (30.7%), Kilolo District Council (26.1%), Mafinga Town Council (4.2%), and Iringa Municipality (0.4%).
Major food crops
During the 2014/15 – 2018/19 period, major food crops cultivated in Iringa Region with average production per year in tonnes and percentage contribution in bracket are shown on Figure 3. Total average production of major food crops grown in Iringa Region during the period between 2014/15 and 2018/19 was 1,277,864 metric tonnes. Maize and beans are the lead crops mostly grown in Mufindi District Council (71.1%) and Iringa District Council (8.7%).
Round potatoes are mostly grown in Iringa District Council and Mufindi District Council, while paddy is mostly grown in Iringa District Council (7.4%) and Kilolo District Council (6.4%). The share of the remaining crops (sweet potatoes, wheat, cassava, sorghum, and finger millet) is less than 7 percent.
Major cash crops grown in Iringa Region
Main cash include tea, tobacco, pyrethrum, sunflower, groundnuts, onion, tomatoes, coffee, cashew, cotton and avocados. During the
2014/15-2018/19 period, an average of 105,450 hectares were under cash crop production as shown in Figure 4: sunflower (71.9%), tomatoes (11.5%), tea (9.1%), onions (2.4%) and tobacco (1.7%).
Total annual average production of main cash crops for the period 2014/15-
2018/19 was 202,303.3 metric tons as follows: tomatoes (55.7%), sunflower
(19.9%), onions (12.4%), tea (8.8%) and 3.2 percent for the remaining crops
Horticulture crops
Iringa Region has good potential for growing a variety of high value horticulture crops such as avocados, grapes, mangoes, pineapples, apples, flowers, carrots, peas, onions and tomatoes. Large- scale farming investments are encouraged and the investor can easily
organise small-scale out-grower farmers to enable meet large-scale demand for processing and other value addition. The region has identified over 9,883 hectares suitable for fruits and vegetable farming in Mufindi District Council, Iringa District Council and Kilolo District Council.
