The Matengo people are one of the three large ethnic groups living in Mbinga district of Ruvuma region in Tanzania, the other two being the Ngoni and the Nyasa. These highlands are characterized by strongly dissected mountains and narrow valleys where the elevation ranges from 1400 to over 2000m. The original vegetation must have been montane forest, but this has been almost completely destroyed. The main economic activity is farming, which is practiced on a small scale.
Coffee is the main cash crop.
The Matengo highland zone is an area of high agricultural productivity, due in part to the utilization of a unique indigenous farming system known in Kiswahili as 'ngoro', or Matengo pit system. The Matengo pit system is practiced mainly on the steeper slopes, for the cultivation of such crops as maize, beans, wheat and sweet potatoes, and in some areas tobacco, all on a rotational basis. On less steep slopes the Matengo occasionally construct bench terraces for their coffee farms, while ridge cultivation is also used on less steep slopes and on flat land. The first step in the preparation of a crop field requires the labour of men, who cut the trees and grass, using axes and billhooks respectively. Using long-handled iron hoes, women perform the arduous task of digging the pits and spreading the earth over the grass squares laid down by the men.