Political and Economic Situation in the Parish
Ifakara Parish is situated in the centre of the town, which serves as district headquarters of Kilombero District. The town serves as a hub of other towns in Kilombero and Ulanga Districts, which together make the diocese of Mahenge. That means it is the connection centre to other towns. and cities in Tanzania
Ifakara is made of three wards: Ifakara ward as the centre with an estimated population of 46.381, Kibaoni ward with 21.029, and Lumemo ward with 18.392. So Ifakara totals 85.802. If you includes the surrounded villages belonging politically to Ifakara the sum total is about 100.000.
Ifakara has a beautiful landscape with mountains, valleys and rivers. Near to the town we have the national reserved forests of the Udzungwa mountain range. The mountains are the source of a number of rivers: River Lumemo divides the town of Ifakara in two parts, Kihansi Waterfalls and Great Ruaha produce electricity. Sanje Waterfalls, lying in Udzungwa National Park, are a tourist attraction.
In the lowlands we find River Kilombero, one of the biggest rivers in Tanzania. Its valley is used for agriculture and cattle breeding. In the lower course, Kilombero River flows into Selous Game Reserve, the largest of this kind in Tanzania. Finally, it empties into the Rufiji, East Africa’s second-largest river.
The majority of the population depends on agricultural food products such as rice, maize, bananas, coconuts, beans, sweet potatoes, but also fishing. Agriculture is the basic activity in the area because of the fertility of the land. However, people from other cities such as Dar es Salaam come to Ifakara to invest in the agricultural sector. This makes Ifakara popular and even famous, especially during the harvesting period.
In the Kilombero Valley, there are two seasons in the year, the rainy season from November to May, which is used for agriculture, and the dry season from June to October, which is partly used for harvesting and partly for trading with agricultural products of the region. Apart from all these activities the people of Ifakara still earn very little in their life. They say they earn less than a dollar per day. Therefore the people of Ifakara still have a long way to go.
