Local government is administered via the Mbeya Urban District authority and a Regional Commissioner.
Mbeya has weather with enough rainfall and fertile soil which enable it to be the largest producer of maize, rice, bananas, beans, potatoes (Irish & sweet), soya nuts and wheat in the entire country. Tanzania has a free market in agricultural produce, and Mbeya transports vast amounts of its maize to other areas of Tanzania. There is also extensive animal husbandry, with dairy cattle predominating. Mbeya is also the biggest producer of high-value export and cash crops in Tanzania; those crops are coffee (arabica), tea, cocoa, pyrethirum and spices. There is some smallholder cultivation of tobacco. Firewood is collected by women and girls, from the wooded valleys and mountainsides. Bamboo is naturally abundant in the forests, and there are plans to teach local people about this versatile plant and its many uses. Some gold is still mined in the rural Chunya District, by artisan miners.
Mbeya is considered to be heading the Southern Highlands Regions, that's why there is a Mbeya Referral Hospital which serves the whole of the Southern Highlands regions. There are also a number of companies and statutory organizations with regional offices in Mbeya
