Transforming traditional land governance systems and coping with land deal transactions
Loading...
Date
2012
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This study aimed to gain insight into how land deals have affected traditional Tanzanian land-based interactions and
networks, and what coping mechanisms those affected have deployed. Case studies of land deal transactions — in
both the Kisarawe district, in the Coast region and the Same district in the Kilimanjaro region —show the impact of
cultivating bio-energy crops on traditional land. While the Same district employed an out-grower model to cultivate
biofuel, Kisarawe district adopted the plantation approach. Traditional land governance systems and actors are
affected differently by out-grower and plantation biofuel production models; the plantation model leads to
traditional land governance frameworks being totally dismantled, while the out-grower model has insignificant
impact on traditional land governance systems. For both models, laws and guidelines governing biofuel cultivation
are ineffective: plantation and out-grower biofuel cultivation exacerbates a vicious cycle of poverty and
environmental degradation. More research in other socio-ecological environments is necessary to understand
broader interactions between land deals and traditional governance systems, and then to develop concrete, sound
guidelines to govern foreign, national and local institutional actors involved in land deals.
Description
Keywords
Land deals, Tanzania, Bio-energy crops, Out-grower model, Plantation model
Citation
Mahonge, C. (2012). ‘Transforming traditional land governance systems and coping with land deal transactions’, LDPI Working Paper 6. PLAAS, UWC: Cape Town.