Macenta is a town in southeastern Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

, founded by the Toma

Toma

-Places:In Burkina Faso*Toma, Burkina Faso, town in Nayala province*Toma Department, department in Nayala province, Burkina Faso*Toma, Banwa, town in Burkina Faso*Toma Koura, village in Tansila Department of Banwa Province, Burkina FasoIn Japan...

 people. Population 88,376 (2008 est).

Geography

Macenta is the capital of the Macenta Prefecture

Macenta Prefecture

Macenta is a prefecture located in the Nzérékoré Region of Guinea. The capital is Macenta. The prefecture covers an area of 8,600 km.² and has an estimated population of 296,000.-Sub-prefectures:...

 in southeastern Guinea. It is located in the Guinea Highlands

Guinea Highlands

The Guinea Highlands is a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from the southern Fouta Djallon highlands in southeastern Guinea through to northern Sierra Leone and Liberia, and northwestern Côte d'Ivoire ....

 (at 2,033 feet (620 m)) on the road from Nzérékoré

Nzérékoré

Nzérékoré, also spelled N'Zérékoré, is the largest city in the Guinée Forestière region of south-eastern Guinea and is capital of the Nzérékoré Prefecture. It is Guinea's third largest city . It was the centre of a rising against French rule in 1911. It is now known as a market town, and for its...

 to Guéckédou. The Nianda River joins the Makonda River near Macenta.

Economy

Macenta is the major trading market town for tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

, coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

, rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

, shea butter

Shea butter

Shea butter is a slightly yellowish or ivory-colored fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree . It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. Shea butter is edible and may be used in food preparation...

 extract, kola nut

Kola nut

Kola Nut is the nut of the kola tree, a genus of trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa, classified in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae . It is related to the South American genus Theobroma, or cocoa...

s, palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...

, and kernels grown in the surrounding agricultural area. A tea processing plant was built in Macenta in 1968, and the town has an agricultural research station, a sawmill, and several secondary schools. A trade in smuggling

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 is believed to have developed in Macenta.

The town is served by Macenta Airport

Macenta Airport

Macenta Airport is an airport serving Macenta in Guinea....

.