The following conditions that made Mwea suitable for the establishment of an irrigation scheme
- Sparse population making it easy and cheap to resettle people. sparse and low population made it easy to compensate the people who were living in the area.
- Land availability due to low population tributaries of R. Tana (Thiba, Nyamidi)
- Black cotton soils which retain water longer
- Gently sloping topography enabling gravity flow of water
- Low, unreliable rainfall received in the area make irrigation necessary.
