Overview

Rubirizi District was curved from Bushenyi district in July 2010. The District has 2 counties of Bunyaruguru and Katerera. The district is composed of 9 Sub counties and 2 Town councils. The Sub counties include; Rutoto, Ryeru, Magambo, Kichwamba, Katunguru, Kirugu, Katerera, Katanda and Kyabakara. Town Councils include; Rubirizi and Katerera. The District is constituted of 53 Parishes and 294 Villages.

 

 

District Profile

Key Geographical information

Rubirizi District mainly comprises of Banyaruguru, Banyankole, Bakiga, Baganda, Batoro and Bakonzo. The main physical features of the district include Natural forests of Karinzu, Imaramagambo and Kasyoha – Kitomi covering an estimated area of 784 km2.

   

Part of Kasyoha kitomi forest

 

The water bodies are lakes- Edward, George, Kazinga channel and 32 crater lakes.

   

Part of Lake George in Katunguru S/c

 

The Queen Elizabeth National Park partly is located in Rubirizi District and falls within the Western arm of the East African rift Valley.

   

Kyambura Gorge in Kirugu Sub County & Arial view of Queen Elizabeth NP

 

The major Economic activities include; semi intensive agriculture, fishing, trade and commerce, transport, stone quarrying, sand mining, mineral mining, construction industry, tourism and lumbering.

    

Fishing, sand mining in Katunguru S/C & Transport and Trade in the District

 

 

Location

The district lies between 0o N and 0o 46’ S of the equator and 29o 41’ East and 30o30’ East of Greenwich. It is surrounded by the districts of Kasese in the North, Kamwenge and Ibanda in the North East, Bushenyi in the south, Rukungiri in the South West and Buhweju in the East.  It also borders the Democratic Republic of Congo in the West across Lake Edward.

Topography

The district is hilly with sharp valleys and craters.

Climate

The district receives 1500-2000mm of rainfall annually and the mean annual temperature ranges from 12.5o C to 30o C. This climate is conducive and suitable for agricultural activities carried out in the district.

Soils and Vegetation

The district is endowed with loamy fertile soils with varying proportions of sand and clay. It has tropical rain forest vegetation of Kalinzu, Imaramagambo, Kasyoha-Kitomi in the central and savannah woodlands, semi arid vegetation in the north and wetland vegetation.

Land Utilization

Land use

Area (km2)

Percentage

Tropical rain forests

784

50

National park

393

23

Open water bodies

370

20

Wetlands

4

7

TOTAL

 

100

Average land holding 0.8ha

Health Infrastructure 

Level

katerera

Bunyaruguru

Total

Hospitals

0

0

0

Sub District Health Centres [HSDs]

0

1

1

Health Centre IIIs

1

2

3

Health Centre Iis

3

9

11

Totals

4

11

15

 

Administrative structure

This shows information of the LG administrative units and organizational structure for Rubirizi district as shown below;

LG administrative units in Rubirizi district

County

Sub county

Town council

Parish

Ward

Villages

Bunyaruguru

05

01

30

04

148

Katerera

04

01

32

04

146

Total

09

02

53

08

294

 

Population by sex by Sub County, 2014 and Household size

SUB COUNTY

No. HHds

Av. HHd size

Males

Females

Total Popn

KATUNGURU

1,369

2.8

2,158

1,647

3,805

KICHWAMBA

3,633

4.6

8,027

8,614

16,641

MAGAMBO

2,475

4.7

5,561

5,996

11,557

RUBIRIZI TC

1,966

4.2

3,845

4,359

8,204

RUTOTO

2,976

4.5

6,185

7,066

13,251

RYERU

2,761

4.8

6,138

7,103

13,241

KATANDA

3,891

4.8

8,994

9,834

18,828

KATERERA

2,344

4.5

4,965

5,524

10,489

KATERERA TC

2,147

4.2

4,330

4,740

9,070

KIRUGU

2,476

4.6

5,416

5,886

11,302

KYABAKARA

2,760

4.6

6,146

6,615

12,761

 

28,798

 

61,765

67,384

129,149

Source: UBOS, final results NPHC 2014

From the table above, Katanda Sub county has the biggest population (15%) followed by Kichwamba sub county (13%). The former lies at the edge of the central forest reserve with high illiteracy levels. This means that special interventions in education are required. There is no government health facility to provide information regarding family planning. The later also adjacent queen Elizabeth protected area (QEPA Katunguru Sub county has the lowest population because the population is composed of the fish folks. It is also in the middle of QEPA and has limited land for expansion. The above demographic characteristics imply that more resources should be allocated to Katanda and Kichwamba sub counties for equitable development.

Natural Endowments

The district is host to Queen Elizabeth protected area and also shares the Kasyoha - Kitomi Central Forest Reserve. This makes it a tourist hub hosting over 20 medium star visitor facilities. Being located the edge of the Rift valley; It also has substantial deposits of pozollana (limestone). Lakes Edward, George the Kazinga and 32 minor lakes Channel are potential fishing grounds.

Social Economic infrastructure

The socio-economic characteristic entails the well being of the community. It includes the housing conditions, household assets, incomes and outstanding loans, household expenditure, welfare indicator and cultural participation of household members.

Housing conditions by type of house

Housing is one of the basic human needs that have a profound impact on the health, welfare, social attitude and economic productivity of the individual. It is also one of the best indications of the person’s standard of living and his/her place in society.

 

In addition, building materials determine the stability and durability of house over years. 95% of the housing units in the district are roofed with iron sheets, 5% are grass thatched. The number of houses built with burnt bricks and roofed with iron sheets is on an upward trend and thus improving the housing conditions in the district.

 

Main sources of household livelihood

Table: 1.4 Main source of household livelihood

Source Livelihood

Percentage

Subsistence farming

78.8

Employment income

9.2

Business enterprise

6.3

Family support

4.2

Other

1.6

Total

100

Source: 2014 Population census

The majority of the households (79 percent) depend on subsistence farming for livelihood. About 15 percent of the households depend on employment and enterprise income. Subsistence farming is also dominant in the rural areas commanding 82 percent of household welfare.