BUSIA DISTRICT TRAVEL INFORMATION

The district is bordered by Bugiri district to the west, Tororo district to the north and the Republic of Kenya to the east. Busia district, which is at the Uganda-Kenya border in the eastern region, was originally part of Tororo district. It became a district on March 20 1997. The district has a total road network of 710 km composed of 30km of tarmac roads and 56 km earth / gravel. Community roads cover about 200 km, while feeder road coverage is 251.3 km or 62 percent of the district, according to January 2003 figures from the district’s Works department.
Busia District has a total land area of 743 sq. km, of which 611.3 sq. km. is arable land. The average farm size is 2.5 ha, and commercial agriculture uses up to 0.5 percent of this land.

POPULATION

According to the 1991 housing and population census, Busia district had a total population of 163,597. This was composed of 79,218 males and 84,379 females. The preliminary results of the 2002 housing and population census indicate that the district has a total population of 227,561, of whom males are 109,960 and females 117,601

The main languages spoken in Busia are Samia-Lugwe, Ateso, Swahili, Lugisu, Japadhola, Lusoga, Luganda, Lugwere and Ngakarimojong.

AGRICULTURE

The major crops grown in Busia include millet, maize, ground nuts, cassava, cotton, sweet potatoes, soya beans, coffee, and sorghum.

HEALTH

The district does not have a hospital, which means it has to depend on neighbouring districts for secondary health care services. This calls for an efficient referral system (e.g. radio communication, ambulances, etc), which are all lacking. There are 18 health centres in the district. Of them, Masafu and Busia are categorised at Health Centre IV; Dabani, Busitema, Buteba, Bulumbi, Lumino, Lunyo, Buhehe and Masaba as Health Centre III. Hasyule, Buwembe, Lunyo, Bumunji, Lumino, Sibona, Habuleke and Busime are

Health Centre II.
It is estimated that only 37 percent of the entire district population was with in a radius of less than 2 km from a health facility. The furthest some people have to travel to get to a facility is 10 km.

The district has 246 functional boreholes and 113 protected springs. Safe water coverage is 51.6 percent in the district and 44 percent in rural areas. These statistics were based on the assumption that one borehole water point serves 300 people and one protected spring services 150 people. Average walking distance to the nearest source of water is 0.5 km during wet season and 3 km during the dry season. It is further estimated that 56 percent of the rural population is within a distance of less than 0.5 km and 88 percent within a distance of less than two kilometers from a water source for human consumption. 79 percent of the urban population is within a distance of less than 0.5 km from a water source for human consumption.