Macenta

Macenta, town, southeastern Guinea. It is located in the Guinea Highlands (at 2,033 feet [620 m]) on the road from Nzérékoré to Guéckédou and is the chief trading centre for the tea, coffee, rice, cassava, kola nuts, and palm oil and kernels grown in the surrounding agricultural area. Macenta has a tea-processing plant (1968), an agricultural-research station, a sawmill, and several secondary schools. The surrounding area is forested and is inhabited by the Loma and the Muslim Malinke peoples. Pop. (1996) 47,360.