Matengo people

However, subsequent to independence of Tanzania in 1961, the patronymic unit (kilau) is retained only for the purpose of naming the family siblings.

Grammar and phonology of Matengo have undergone change under Swahili influence; a certain amount of code mixing has also occurred.

[8][9] The Matengo people inhabit the southern highlands of Tanzania, a mountainous area of the country which ranges in altitude from 900 to 2000 metres above sea level.

The land below an altitude of 1400 metres is generally open woodland known as miombo, with a heavy concentration of Caesalpiniaceae trees.

[7][10] The function of the pits is to prevent heavy rain 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.

[11][12] Their method involves a 2-year one-cycle rotation of crops, with a short-fallow period, generally maize, beans and peas.

[13] 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.

[14] While practicing a sedentary agriculture style in the country's mountainous region, the Matengo also cultivate the cash crop of coffee.

It was introduced to Mbinga District in the 1920s by the son of ex-Paramount chief Yohani Chrisostomus Makita Kayuni to enable the Matengo to pay poll tax, a demand of the colonial administration.

[1][12][16] In the past, the Mbinga Cooperation Union (MBICU) was responsible for supporting the coffee industry amongst the Matengo farmers.

The land holding of each family is normally a small ridge of the hill region adjoining streams for supply of water for cultivation.

Married women hire the ntumbo land from their father-in-law and are usually engaged in growing staple food crops such as maize and beans.

[17] Matengo people live in one-room jiko (house) tenements which serve as their kitchen, dining room, and favourite place to entertain guests.