Yatta District Development Plan 2008-2012

Abstract

Yatta District is one of the districts that form Eastern Province and was curved out of the larger Machakos District in March 2007. The District borders Mbeere District to the North, Kitui District to the. East, Thika District to the West and Murang' a South District to the South West. ·The d1stnct covers an area of 2469.1 km and composes of four divisions, which are further subdivided into 17 locations and 51 sub-locations. Masinga Division is the largest with an area of 1094.1 km2 while Ndithini Division has an area of 316.0 Km2. Yalta Division has an area of 568 Km2 while Katangi Division has an area of 491.0 Km. The Yalta plateau covers about 70% of the district. However, undulating topography which is characterized by hills (Mavoloni, Kangonde, Kamuthamba, Nzii, Kavila Koli, Ithanga and Ekalakala) and rivers also exist. The main rivers include Athi river, Thika river and Tana river which originates from Mt Kenya, Aberdare ranges and Ngong hills. There are several seasonal rivers which includes Mwitasyano and Ianguni land. Although the district is divided into three agro-ecological zones namely LM3, LM4 and LM5 the former two dominates. The region is characterized by high temperatures of 25°c- 29 °c and low average rainfall of 450-800 mm annually. The rainfall pattern is bimodal with the short season starting from March to May while the long season starts from October to December...