Let’s Talk Land Tanzania‘The Land Situation in Tanzania’

Presentation at Aparliamentarian's seminar in Kigali from 26th -27th April, 2013

By Scholastica Haule, Land Rights Advisor ActionAid Tanzania

Introduction

• Land grabbing or land investments or land deals? Some reflection on the definition of land grab.

• The Tirana declaration defines a land deal /land grab as acquisitions or concessions that are one or more of the following;

• In violation of human rights, particularly the equal rights of women

……cont

• Not based on free, prior and informed consent of the affected land-users;

• Not based on a thorough assessment, or are in disregard of social, economic and environmental impacts, including the way they are gendered;

• Not based on transparent contracts that specify clear and binding commitments about activities,

employment and benefits sharing, and;• Not based on effective democratic planning,

independent oversight and meaningful participation

A litmus test for Tanzania

• If subjected to the indicators mentioned, how many land deals will qualify as transparency, based on consent and equal participation?

• Evidence from the field indicates that in almost all areas under investments there are clashes and conflicts between investors and communities.

• Cases of Kilwa, Kisarawe, Loliondo, Bagamoyo, Rufiji,Kigoma, Rukwa and many other areas are a living testimony that there are problems in land administration

Tanzania and investments on land

Key attraction for Foregn Direct Investments (FDI) in Tanzania’s pastoral/farmland(1) Conservation(2) Tourism(3) Mining(4) Speculation (5) Carbon(6) Biofuel (7) Food

Land area and agricultural use in Tanzania

Potentially Avail-able for Agricul-ture: 44.4 Mil-lion Hectares

(10.8+ Million Hectares Being Cultivated: 75%+ under Small-Scale Farming)

Not Potential for Agriculture: 39 Mil-

lion Hectares

Drivers behind land grabs• Triple Crisis: Feed-Food-Fuel1. Biofuels2. 2007/8 Food price hike3. Financial crisis; speculation on food-land-land

–agricultureInvestment in land aiming at securingFood,biofuel,land in itself and speculation

The specter of numbers!• To date no one can say exactly how much land has

been leased to the investors. The whole ongoing process on land deals from village, general and reserved land are surrounded by secrecy and lack of transparency.

• As of September 2012 the total area requested for biofuel investment only was about 388,421,734 ha, the many flaws identified in the investment process like, data availability, inconsistency as well as lack of coordination.

Kilimo Kwanza &SAGCOT-land grab or green revolution?

• Internally, the government with support from the private sector has introduced Kilimo kwanza initiative to transform agriculture. The brainchild behind Kilimo kwanza is Sothern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), one of the identified growth corridor proposed to kick start kilimo kwanza.

• The SAGCOT is an ambitious project that covers a total of 300,000 square kilometres stretching alongside the TAZARA railway line that extend inland from Dar es Salaam see the map below.

SAGCOT AREA

SAGCOT area and land grabs

• Focus on large investors as transformers of small scale farmers-not much on what modal is to be used to integrate small scale holders

• Intention on the use of GMOs which will impact smallholder farmers – e.g seed sovereignty supporters like Monsanto behind this

• The corridor has always been a bread basket of Tanzania as it comprises of the G5 regions and small scale farmers have been active, thus not much general land, most land is under village land

Legal framework guiding land rights in Tanzania

• Unlike many other places and countries where land grabbing is taking place, in Tanzania land and related resources are administered through different legislation these are;

- Nation Land Policy enacted in 1995 and revised in 1997-Land Act no. 4 & Village Land Act 5 enacted in 1999 revised in 2004-Land dispute courts Act 2 enacted in 2002- Land use Act 6/2007, Urban planning act 8/2007, Town planners reg. Act 7/2007, mortgage

financing 2008, Unit titles 2008- Wildlife act (1974) repealed and re enacted in 2009-Range lands Act 2009-Mining policy and Act 1998 repealed & enacted 2009

All these pieces of legislations defines manner in which land and related resources

can be accessed without hindering rights of other users and obligation and responsibilities in safeguarding land rights as well as adjudication when conflicts happens.

….cont

• Despite the presence of legislations and efforts by the government to ensure that natural resources are well governed there are still loopholes that contributes to land grabs, these includes;-Knowledge gap; many villagers are not aware of the legal

framework and various procedures involved in land transfer thus feel short changed by investors

-Implementation gap; The pace of implementing the Land Acts is slow, very few villages have been surveyed, demarcated and issued with certificates of village land and individual CCROs for villagers

Role of NGOs: ActionAid TZ and Partners

• In recognition of the importance of land for women and other marginalized groups AATZ and partners have engaged the government in a number of ways;- Through support of land use plans in villages- Awareness raising on land rights and capacity

building to both ordinary villagers and leaders at village level

…….cont• Institutional problems; much as the Ministry

of Lands remains a major player when it comes to land administrations, all land categories are placed under relevant authorities for administration, however of recent there have been clashes between these authorities as the on going conflict between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Loliondo villages indicates

----Cont• Through the land accountability project: Creation of

tools to enhance further discussions and exchange of experience around land rights for practioners and activists through www.letstalklandtanzania.com

• Establishment of the monitoring tools in which villagers can report incidences of violation of land rights via sms system

• Creation of user-friendly citizen briefs and training manual for community development facilitators and villagers use on issues related to land rights

What others can do

• The monitoring tool is also meant to capture real experiences of what is happening on the ground and use the evidence collected to influence policy and practice change

• Inform partners and stakeholders of areas that need great attention and involve authorities in resolving land conflicts and bring about sustainable investment in land that benefit local communities

• It is therefore high time that policy makers, leaders, grassroots organization and movements work together to claim for more transparency and accountability in land deals so that we are all aware of what benefits will communities accrue by inviting investors in their areas.

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION