Factors Contributing To Land Conflict in Tanzania

Abstract

Land conflicts frequently emerge due to conflicting requests for land, such as the need for agricultural growth, infrastructural development, conservation, resource extraction, population growth, urbanization, inadequate governance initiatives, and resource competition. Land conflicts manifest a wider worldwide pattern that carries important socio-economic and environmental consequences. Globally, land conflicts have been increasing due to population increase, urbanization, industrialization, and changes in land use practices. In sub-Saharan Africa, such as South Sudan, long-standing conflicts between farmers and pastoralists remain unresolved. In Tanzania, disputes arising from land use, namely those between farmers and livestock keepers, are caused by a multitude of circumstances such as poor land governance, inappropriate land use plans, inadequate land policies, land tenure insecurity, and population increases are among the fuelling land use conflicts. This study assessed Factors Contributing to Land Conflict in the Kiteto District, Tanzania. Specifically, corruption contributes to land conflicts, land scarcity, and the absence of proper demarcation of land use. The study considered the population of 252 selected from 63 villages considering 4 people in each (63 times 4). The population included farmers, pastoralists, and government officials including DLO, WEO, and VEO. Solvin (2017), determination formulae n=N÷(1+Ne2) were used to get 155 sample sizes where 144 for quantitative selected randomly and 11 key informants for interviews were purposely selected. For data collection, the questionnaire was administered to participants. To ensure the instrument's validity presented to IAA specialists for evaluation, and then piloted for trial data collection for reliability. Data analysis used SPSS Version 24 SPSS. The study reported that unclear land boundaries is driving land conflicts. Disputes are frequently triggered by the lack of clear demarcation between land users, especially farmers and pastoralists. Also, major problems influencing land conflict include corruption and land shortage and hinders fair land transactions. The study concluded that still issuing has not completely addressed the problem of defining territory since overlapping land claims remain. land scarcity driven by growing population demands, and changes in land use have further increased for few resources. Inclusive land governance changes that improve openness and responsibility as well as sustainable land use regulations that support fair access to land resources. Participatory land management projects involving the community help to reduce conflicts and guarantee that the demands of every stakeholder are considered in upcoming land distribution decisions. More participatory description procedures as well as hash land tenure law enforcement are advised to help lower tensions. These steps are important to guarantee long-term peace and land-use security.