Litembo is a village in Mbinga district in the Ruvuma Region of the Tanzanian Southern Highlands.

[4][5] The function of the pits is to prevent heavy rain from washing away the soils on the steep slopes, acting as sedimentation tanks to trap green grasses, thus providing a source of nutrients for the following season.

[1][6] Their method involves a 2-year one-cycle rotation of crops, with a short-fallow period, generally maize, beans, and peas.

For example, with maize farming amongst the Matengo, in November a farmer will make furrows of roughly 5 centimetres on the ridges and sow the seeds, and commence weeding in December.

The maize is then harvested in July and then the field is reduced to fallow until the following March to allow the soils to recover.