1. Introduction
Traditional shifting cultivation in Tanzania, also known in Kiswahili as “mahame” (shifted land) or “malale” (fallow land), has been practiced for many years in semi-humid areas. During the pre-colonial and colonial periods, it served as the primary farming strategy as farmers lived in scattered settlements to avoid slavery and tribal wars. It was also employed as a strategy to evade tsetse flies and dangerous wild animals prevalent in sedentary settlements (
Kikula, 1997
;
Kjekshus, 2022
). The farming system was additionally utilized to control the prevalence of weeds, pests, and diseases, while also contributing to the restoration of soil fertility and productivity (
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
;
Kilawe et al., 2022
).
Recent studies have shown that traditional long fallow shifting cultivation has been intensified into short fallow systems and continuous annual cropping (
Birch-Thomsen & Fog, 1996
;
Grogan et al., 2013
;
Itani, 2007
;
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
;
Luoga et al., 2000
). Population pressure, market access, technological advancement and policies have been cited as the major drivers of land-use intensification in East Africa (
Birch-Thomsen, 1999
;
Birch-Thomsen & Fog, 1996
;
Chidumayo, 1987
;
Grogan et al., 2013
;
Itani, 2007
;
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
;
Luoga et al., 2000
;
Van Vliet et al., 2012
). Most studies such as those of (
Birch-Thomsen, 1999
;
Chidumayo, 1987
;
Grogan et al., 2013
;
Stromgaard, 1989
) have analyzed the role of population growth, technology and market in intensification of shifting cultivation in the region. There are few studies that show the role of policies on small-scale farming and how the farmers have reacted to these policies to change their farming systems (
Sunseri, 2003
).
Consequently, this case study explores the role of land-tenure, agriculture, and forestry policies on intensification of shifting cultivation at a village level in Tanzania. The study is based on data acquired through intensive review of the policy documents, individual and group farmer interview and field observation. The paper starts with a literature review on how policies developed over the past 100 years have contributed to the transformation of shifting cultivation in Tanzania. Thereafter, I present a case study showing the role of policies in intensification of shifting cultivation at village level.
2. Literature Review on Historical Impacts of Land Use Policies on Shifting Cultivation
Tanzania-previously known as Tanganyika, was colonized by German between 1885 and 1918. Ten years after German successful invasion, they passed a land-tenure Act called “Regarding creations, Acquisition and Conveyance of Crown land” of 1895. The Act declared all lands in Tanganyika as crown land vested in German empire (
Iliffe, 1969
;
Sundet, 1997
;
United Republic of Tanzania, 1995
). This Act recognized two types of land ownership: public land managed and administered by Governor on behalf of German Empire and the freehold land owned and managed by settlers. The Africans could only access and use reserved land for the Natives on condition that it should be physically occupied (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Iliffe, 1969
). The colonial administration introduced and promoted intensive agriculture that was based on well managed plantations of cotton, coffee, peanut, sisal and rubber (
Iliffe, 1969
;
Kikula, 1997
;
Sunseri, 2003
). They prohibited and discouraged traditional agriculture characterized with shifting cultivation, even though it continued to be practiced secretly (
Kikula, 1997
;
Raikes, 1986
). The intensive agriculture promoted and established by the colonialist proved failure during the two decades of their administration in Tanganyika (
Iliffe, 1969
). The farming system failed largely due to poor climatic conditions and soils, pests and endless wars from locals who protested against land alienation, land-use restrictions and forced labor (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Iliffe, 1969
;
Sunseri, 2003
). The colonialists reviewed their land and agricultural policies to give the natives more access to land and freedom to labor. Albrecht von Rechenberg, the German East Africa governor of the time wrote: “It serves the public interest to promote native settlement and their attachment to the soil, not to diminish it” (
Iliffe, 1969
). The Germans then introduced a “Nyamwezi and Peanut Policy” in the Central and “Peasant Cotton Policy” in the Lake zone and Southeast Tanzania (
Iliffe, 1969
;
Sunseri, 2003
). The context of the policies was to promote local farming systems on the view that it was more adapted to local environmental conditions. It was assumed that the local farming systems would naturally intensify due to attractions from the market demand and the German government would benefit from collection of tax (
Iliffe, 1969
). They consigned intensive cultivation of managed crop plantations to settlers confined in the Northern Zone of Tanganyika (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Iliffe, 1969
). The German agricultural reform model performed very well with massive increase in tax collection and decline in conflicts in a very short time (
Iliffe, 1969
). Besides agriculture, the colonialist promoted forest protection for production purposes-establishment of crop plantations and timber for export (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Iliffe, 1969
). They created and gazetted several forest reserves and enforced stringent rules and regulations, but the rules only applied to gazetted or reserved forests (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Iliffe, 1969
;
Sunseri, 2003
;
Zahabu et al., 2009
).
The German colonial administration in Tanganyika was overthrown by British during the First World War (1914-1918). The British ruled Tanganyika between 1919 and 1961, when Tanganyika gained her independence. The British continued with the land-tenure Act enacted by Germans until 1923, when they enacted the Land Tenure Ordinance No.3-also known as Land Ordinance Chapter 113. This Act declared all lands in Tanzania as public lands and the right over or in land were vested under the British Governor in Tanganyika (
United Republic of Tanzania, 1995
). Like German era, under British, the Natives could only access and use land approved by the Governor (
Kikula, 1997
;
Reed, 1979
;
Sundet, 1997
). However, in 1928, the Land Tenure Ordinance was amended and customary right of occupancy for the Natives introduced. The new Act vested the powers on land (held and used by local communities) to local Chiefs and the Chiefs could exercise the powers to the locals based on traditional norms and regulations (
Reed, 1979
). The aims of this approach were described as: “first to provide a form of local government, close to the people, which the people themselves understood, using traditional leaders of the people as administrator, and second to initiate participation by the indigenous people in the Government of the country, such as could be expanded with their increasing education and experience into full integration” (
Reed, 1979
). The British continued the agricultural policies implemented by the Germans (
Reed, 1979
). They promoted intensive agriculture such as managed groundnuts, coffee, tobacco, tea, oil palms, rubber, and sisal. However, intensive agriculture did not deliver the desired results due to high crop failure caused by pests and diseases, drought and poor soils (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
;
Sundet, 1997
). The British administration also continued the establishment of forest reserves, but unlike the Germans, their motives for establishment of forest reserves were to conserve soil, water and biodiversity (
Hamilton & Mwasha, 1989
). During the late years of British administration in Tanganyika, they enacted the Forest Ordinance Chapter 389 of 1959. This Act imposed restriction on local access to protected forests, but the rules and regulations were only applicable to gazetted or declared forest reserves (
Zahabu et al., 2009
)
Tanganyika gained independence from British in 1961 and in 1964 it became the United Republic of Tanzania after a merge with Zanzibar Archipelago. The first phase of government was led by the President Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere between 1961 and 1985. Tanzania continued with the Land Tenure Ordinance Act of 1923 enacted by the British administration. However, in 1963 the government enacted African Chiefs Ordinance Act No.13 which made absolute the powers of Chiefs in allocation and distribution of lands to individuals under customary laws (
United Republic of Tanzania, 1995
). In 1965, the government enacted another act, The Land Tenure Act. The Act granted the government settlement authority, the powers of allocation and distribution of community land to individuals. Further, the Act converted the freehold tenure to Government Leasehold not exceeding 99 years (
Sundet, 1997
;
United Republic of Tanzania, 1995
). In 1967, the government introduced a voluntary re-settlement programme called Ujamaa (familyhood) which required rural people to move to a concentrated area called Ujamaa village. The aim was to change traditional settlement characterized with isolated pockets, shifting cultivation, small farms, poor implements, and low yields to larger permanent settlement characterized with modern permanent cultivation, higher yield and with easy provision of development facilities (
Daley, 2005
;
Kikula, 1997
;
Limbu, 1995
). However, rural communities did not respond to the call since by the end of 1969 only 2.5% of the country’s population had voluntarily resettled into the villages (
Daley, 2005
;
Kikula, 1997
). Between 1970 and 1976, the government introduced and implemented a forceful re-settlement of rural communities from traditional settlement to Ujamaa villages—this programme is also known as “villagisation” (Operation Vijiji in Swahili). The Ujamaa village consisted between 250 - 600 families and the land was allocated to the household by the Village Council (
Kikula, 1997
;
Sundet, 1997
). The villagisation programme was accompanied by several agricultural policies such as Siasa ni Kilimo (Politics is Agriculture) of 1972 and Kilimo cha Kufa na Kupona (Do or die agriculture) of 1974 all of which promoted intensive and permanent cultivation. Farmers were supplied with subsidized improved hybrid maize seeds and fertilizers, Tri-Super Phosphate (TSP) and Calcium-Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) (
Birch-Thomsen, 1999
;
Kikula, 1997
). Further, in Ujamaa village, only two type of farming systems were allowed: Communal farming system (Ujamaa farming), where crop production was performed on village field(s) on a cooperative basis and a block farming system (bega kwa bega), whereby individuals were allocated small private fields, but the fields were located adjacent to each other in a block form for easy supervision and supply of agriculture inputs (
Daley, 2005
;
Kikula, 1997
). Despite all the efforts to modernize traditional agriculture, productivity declined significantly during villagisation leading to severe hunger and poverty in the early 1980s (
Daley, 2005
;
Kikula, 1997
). Decline in productivity was associated with inadequate knowledge on fertilizer application, poor climate condition; cultivation of one site for long period and state monopoly of crop market and poor infrastructure (
Kikula, 1997
;
Limbu, 1995
;
Raikes, 1986
;
Sundet, 1997
). In 1983, the government developed the National Agricultural Policy to prevent the breakdown of the sector. The policy among many encouraged commercial agriculture, and relaxed land-use restrictions (
Birch-Thomsen & Fog, 1996
;
Daley, 2005
;
Sundet, 1997
). Some villagers reacted to these changes by going back to their old traditional settlement and cultivation methods (
Daley, 2005
;
Sundet, 1997
). Shifting cultivation of maize and finger millet was once again on course and this time saw large forest area opened for cultivation, expanding radially outward from village core (
Birch-Thomsen, 1999
;
Daley, 2005
;
Kikula, 1997
;
Raikes, 1986
). In 1984, the government introduced land use planning in villages in attempt to control land degradation caused by poor farming methods (
Sundet, 1997
). However, village land use planning failed to make an impact largely due to its top-down approach, poor quality and inability to solve land-tittle issues (
Sundet, 1997
). During the first government phase, the government adopted the Forest Ordinance of 1959 enacted during the British administration.
The second phase government was elected and governed between 1985 and 1995. This phase is known as a period of economic liberalization and recovery from the economic downturn of the first government phase. Contrary to the first phase, this phase agricultural subsidies were removed, the government withdrew from physical agriculture and private sector allowed to process and trade on agricultural products (
Birch-Thomsen, 1999
;
Daley, 2005
;
Grogan et al., 2013
;
Limbu, 1995
). There were few restrictions imposed on agriculture development in this phase, thus the small scale, medium and commercial agriculture increased (
Sundet, 1997
). Toward the end of this phase, the government approved the National Land Policy of 1995. The Policy recognized two types of land-tenure: the granted right of occupancy in reserved National lands and customary right of occupancy in Village lands. The village council was granted the power to administer the customary right of occupancy on village lands on conditions that the village should: 1) have a land use plan, 2) village land certificate and 3) village land registry. In this Policy, the top-down approach of the 1984 land-use plans was replaced with introduction of participatory approach in land-use planning, however some land-uses such as shifting cultivation and nomadism were prohibited (
Sundet, 1997
;
United Republic of Tanzania, 1995
). In this phase, the Forest Ordinance of 1959 continued to be used in management of forest resources. However, in 1992 the concept of Participatory Forest Management was introduced whereby involvement of local communities in forest management was sought (
Zahabu et al., 2009
).
The third phase government governed between 1995 and 2005. This government phase witnessed a sharp increase in interest in formal settlement and nature conservation. In this phase, the National Land Policy of 1995 was translated into the National Land Act No. 4 of 1999 and the Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999. The National Land Act declares all land in Tanzania as public land, held in trust by the Head of State. Land tenure is in-form of a right of occupancy for Tanzanians and leasehold for foreigners. The Act categorizes lands into three: The reserved land, village land and general land. The reserved lands encompass all lands set aside for special purpose, including forest reserves, game parks, game reserves, land reserved for public utilities and highways, hazardous land and land reserved for settlement. Reserved land is managed by the sector under which it was reserved. The land tenure for this land category is granted right of occupancy or derivative right of occupancy granted by the Commissioner of lands on behalf of the President of United Republic of Tanzania. General lands denote all lands which are not reserved land or village land, including unused or unoccupied village land. The management, administration and land tenure in general land is similar to reserved lands (
URT, 1999a
). The village land encompasses all lands within the boundaries of the village. The land is managed by the village assembly. The land tenure in village land is customary right of occupancy administered by the Village Council on behalf of Village Assembly (
URT, 1999a
,
1999b
). The Village Land Act made land-use plans a requirement for a village to be registered and granted Village Land Certificate (
URT, 1999b
). In other words, villages that have not conducted land use planning, do not have village land certificate or village boundaries, and are thus considered to be in general land category. Further, the Act identifies the lawful land-uses that a village land-use plan should contain. It prohibits leaving a piece of land to fallow for a period of more than five years, otherwise the land is declared abandoned, and the Act directs village council to revoke the ownership and transfer it back to the village council or to another villager (
URT, 1999b
). In the context, ownership of a village land is not real customary as claimed in the Act since the central government has already decided the uses the land should be put to. During the third government phase, the government passed the National Agricultural and Livestock Policy of 1997. The Policy supports land-use planning for efficient delivery of agricultural education and extension services. The policy condemns shifting cultivation and directs that it should be discouraged, and intensive permanent agriculture promoted (
URT, 2007
). In this government phase, the government also passed the National Forestry Policy of 1998 and enacted the National Forest Act No.14 of 2002. The Policy defines forest in a broader way that also includes agricultural fields under fallow. Forest is defined as: “all land bearing vegetation association dominated by trees of any size, exploitable or not, and capable of producing wood or other products of exerting influence on the climate or water regime or providing shelter to livestock and wildlife (
URT, 1998
). The Policy categories forest tenure into: Central and local authority forest reserve, community forest reserves, private forests, and forest on public land (non-reserved forest land). The implication of this categorization is that agricultural fields under fallow fall under private forest if the farmer has the certificate of customary right of occupancy (CCRO) or forest on public land if the villager does not have the CCRO. The Policy identifies shifting cultivation as a threat to forest cover and biodiversity in reserved forests and non-reserved forest in public lands thus direct the conversion of later to forest reserves and ensure intensive survey in forest reserves (
URT, 1998
). The Forest Act requires all forests (including fields under fallows) to be managed according to forest management plan approved by the Director of Forest. The Act also prohibit the extraction of forest products without authorized license or permit (
URT, 2002
). In other words, it is illegal for a farmer to clear his/her fallow without permit.
The fourth phase government governed between 2005 and 2015. In this phase, the land tenure policies developed in the previous phase were adopted. However, the land-use planning was given a particular emphasis through development of Guidelines of Participatory Land Use Management (PLUM) in 2006 and enactment of the National Land Use Planning Act in 2007. PLUM provided six main steps on how to conduct participatory village land-use planning (NLUPC 2006). The guide suggested the potential land-use for villages in Tanzania but gave the flexibility to include the already established land-uses in the villages. The Land Use Planning Act approved the village council to be the planning authority in village land-use planning. The Act called on the village council to follow the procedures outlined in Village Land Act of 1999 and PLUM of 2006 to conduct land-use plans that involves participation of all land beneficiaries and based on land suitability assessment (
URT, 2007
). Regarding agriculture, this government phase was seen as a period of agriculture revolution due to large investment and focus on intensive agriculture. The government launched big and ambitious agricultural programmes such as Agriculture Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) of 2006, Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP) of 2008, Kilimo Kwanza (Agriculture First) of 2009 and Private Public Partnership (PPP) of 2012. The programs aimed to modernize and commercialize agriculture through involvement of private sector (
Ngaiza, 2012
). Ideally, private investors are granted large piece of village land for large scale commercial cultivation. The programmes provide guidelines on how to increase agriculture productivity in small scale agriculture through provision of subsidies such as fertilizer, improved seeds, irrigation and mechanization (
Ngaiza, 2012
). Further, the programmes provide a guideline on how to avoid degradation due to shifting cultivation through adoption of climate resilient agriculture (
Mshale et al., 2012
). Under this concept, “intensive” agriculture demonstration gardens (Shamba Darasa), were developed in almost every village or wards. The villagers were advised to follow the Shamba darasa model in their own gardens. A survey of two villages in Kilosa District revealed that this model has not been voluntarily accepted by the farmers. Less than 5% of the famers use fertilizers, pesticides, even when those were provided for free (
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
). Regarding forestry, in this phase, the government continued to implement the Forest Policy of 1998 and enforce the Forest Act of 2002. In 2007, the government ratified the Kyoto protocol. The international agreement allows the member countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through market-based mechanisms. The mechanisms through which the emissions can be traded are the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the proposed Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus (REDD+). The later mechanism is seen as a threat to shifting cultivation since it targets the restoration of deforested and degraded landscape. In Tanzania the National Forest Policy of 1998 and the National REDD Strategy of 2013 identify the fallows as degraded “forest” (
URT, 2007
). There is considerable risk that shifting cultivators may lose their land in expense of establishment of forest reserves for carbon sequestration and storage.
Shifting cultivation in Tanzania has survived despite the effort to convert it to intensive permanent cultivation. The recent official figures show that the farming system occupies 7.6% of the total country land area and 33% of area classified as woodlands in Tanzania (
Malimbwi & Zahabu, 2014
). There are no country level estimates of the number of people relying on this land-use. However, local level estimates are: 5% in Sumbawanga (
Grogan et al., 2013
); 20% - 50% in Kilosa (
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
;
Norrlund & Brus, 2004
); 68% in Kitulanghalo (
Luoga et al., 2000
); 90% in Urambo (
Mangora, 2012
) and 70% - 100% in Lindi rural district (
Mshale et al., 2012
). The practices and techniques in shifting cultivation have however been transformed into intensive short fallows and grass composite systems (
Grogan et al., 2013
;
Kilawe, Mertz et al., 2018
).