Farmer and herder land-use relations in the Idodi rangelands, Tanzania Andrew Williams Ph

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People cascades, land and livelihoods: Farmer and
herder land-use relations in the Idodi rangelands,
Tanzania
Andrew Williams
PhD Thesis
University College London
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UMI Number: U592516
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Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
University College London, 2005.
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Abstract
Land policies in Africa have often been predicated on marginalising or extinguishing customary land
tenure systems in favour of introducing more ‘efficient’ formal systems of individual titling and
registration of land. This approach has been marked by its frequent failure and high cost. In Tanzania,
recently introduced land laws instead now recognise customary systems and set out a basis for
incorporating them in a village-based land tenure system. Yet there is growing apprehension that
placing an emphasis on recognising customary practices will compound the growing trend of social
differentiation, elite capture and the increasing numbers of landless poor. These issues can be better
understood through investigating who benefits and loses from instances of ‘negotiability’ in access to
land at a local level, particularly in the light of broader political economic and social changes.
Based on field work carried out in central Tanzania, the study traces the sodo-environmenta! outcomes
of herders and farmers living in the Idodi rangelands. Over the last 50 years, a substantial portion of
these rangelands have been taken over by the state for the creation of wildlife conservation areas. The
remaining parts of the rangelands have been settled by successive waves of farmers and herders,
mainly associated with evictions from the creation of protected areas, other state-perpetrated land
alienations in northern Tanzania, and state-enforced villagisation. Over time, the continued immigration
of people into the Idodi villages has added to an already growing population, such that today, key
resources - fertile arable land, grazing and water - are in increasingly short supply. The story of the
Idodi rangelands reflects developments occurring in many other parts of Tanzania. In particular,
wetland areas in the dryland rangelands have become a focus of in-migration and heightened
competition for land and water, as farmers and herders alike converge on these centres of relatively
high fertility and productivity. Often, as in the Idodi rangelands, competition for land and water has
grown sufficiently great for conflict to break out in these polyethnic dryland-wetlands.
The social negotiability of land has remained central for herders’ access to key land and landed
resources. In the Idodi rangelands, herders have used their growing social relations with farmer-based
centres of power to avoid conflict and maintain access to farmland. Contrastingly conflict over land has
occurred when other herders have not sufficiently invested in social relations with farmers over access to
land. Herders continue to remain squatters - albeit socially legitimate ones - on village land, without
firm rights to rangeland resources. In recent years strong social relations have not been sufficient to
guarantee herders’ security in the landscape. It is clear that the land entitlements of marginalised
herder groups may often need safeguarding by the government, but it less dear what the best
approach may be. In Idodi, a more overt expression of pastoralists’ rights to land would likely lead to
polarisation between farmer and herder, and an increase in conflict and competition over land. Too
little consideration has been given by the government to enabling the pluralistic yet equitable
development of locally diverse customary understandings of land tenure. The continued increase in
competition and conflict over access to land - as has occurred in Idodi - strongly suggests that priority
should to be given in land reform processes to the development of locally legitimate dispute resolution
fora that focus on negotiated outcomes wherever imposed adjudicatory decisions can be avoided.
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Contents
Acknowledgements............................................................................................................................................' 2
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................14
1.1 A study overview..........................—.............................................................................................................14
1.2 The thesis structure......—......................—.................—...........— .— ......—.......------------------------.......... 16
2 ‘Safeguarding’ environment andp roductivity....................................................................................18
2.1 Received knowledge, past policy and new understandings-------------------------------------------------------19
2.1.1 Received knowledge and past policy.... ..........................................................................19
2.1.2 New understandings........— ...-----------------............—............-------------.....—........— .......... 20
2.2 Recent theoretical advances in the society and environment debate...............................................22
2.2.1 Collective action: Common pool resource and moral entitlement theories... ..... 23
Common pool resource Iheory ...........................23
The moral entitlement school..................— ................................................................................24
2.2.2 Political ecology------...— .......--------------—....— ---------------— .......— ••— ------- —-----------25
2.3 Contending with new paradigms of complexity in environment and society------------------ 27
2.4 Land and institutions: social embeddedness, inequality and conflict-----------------------------------------30
2.4.1 The evolutionary model of land tenure......— ........— ........ ..................................................33
2.4.2 Communitarian understandings of land tenure....— .....-----.......— ......—.... .... 36
2.5 Mainstreaming new understandings of society and environment in policy....— ............— --------37
2.6 The study approach, analytical framework and methodology —......— -------------.............— 38
2.6.1 The study context................ ................................................................................................39
2.6.2 The research questions and analytical framework.—..— ........—.......—..—................—... 39
Research questions .........................................................................................................................39
The analytical framework...................—..................—....— -----........ ........................................ 41
2.6.3 The study methodology..............................................................................................................42
3 Tanzanian semi-arid rangelands in perspective...............................................................................45
3.1 Introduction —— —..— ..................—...... 45
3.1.1 Defining the semi-arid rangelands.............— ....--------......-----.............—............................. 46
3.2 Some key developments affecting rangeland management in Tanzania.........................................49
3.2.1 Colonial partitioning and landscape re-organisation...--------...______ ......— ................. 49
3.2.2 Post independence state control: Ujamaa, deconcentration and decentralisation..— 5 7
The early independence years..— ...........-------...................— .....—............— .....----------------.... 52
The Arusha Dedaration and the onset of Ujamaa ..............................................................53
Deconcentration of state power ........—.................................................— .— ...........—.— .... 56
The end of Ujamaa: decentralisation, liberalisation and local government reform....— ........ 56
3.2.3 Control and space: state and nature.................—........— ..................—.............____ — 58
3.2.4 New Tanzanian land tenure legislation and its implications for herders and farmers. 63
3.2.5 People cascades: landlessness, insecurity and wanderings..............*.....................— ......... 66
3.3 Conclusion.........................................................—.......---------............................. .—----—...70
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4 The dryland-wetland frontier of Idodi and Pawaga........................................................................72
4 1 ______________72
4.2 The Greater Ruaha Ecosystem: Idodi and Pawaga..............................................................................72
4.3 Idodi and Ikwavila valley---------.........-------------------------—........---------.........---------______________74
4.3.2 The agro-ecology of Idodi and the Ikwavila valley............................................................78
4.3.3 The people and socio-economy of Idodi and the Ikwavila valley--------_____________ 79
4.4 Village-based administration and land tenure......................................................... ...........................83
4.4.7 Village governments in Idodi...................................—...........................—.______________83
4.4.2 Local level courts..-----------....—..—......---------------....—...—........----- ______________86
4.4.3 Land tenure categories and practices in Idodi----------—.............—.—....______________88
4.5 Pastoralists and village government in Idodi: Living on the edge or edging in?.______________93
5 The peoples of *Kwigongo’: the old and the new.........................................................................96
5.1 Alienations and catastrophe: the loss of the old way of life----------------------------..................---------96
5.7.7 The old hamlets and the way of life in early colonial times.........-----.....______________96
5.7.2 Increasing epidemiological and ecological challenges------------............._____________ 702
5.7.3 Depopulation and eviction.......—.........—..—........................................................................104
5.2 The Ikwavila Valley.....— ............—................--------...— .— ...--------......— ...— ..._____________106
5.2.7 The populating of the Ikwavila valley........................................................._____________ 706
5.3 Livelihoods-----— .....................................................................................................................................112
5.3.7 Households__....-------—...............------....—....— ...------------------------......._____________772
5.3.2 Farming and the farming calendar:.........................................................._____________776
5.3.3 Farm holdings.....-----...............................— ..—.........................---------...—_____________ 727
5.3.4 Cultivation, yields and agricultural productivity......................................_____________729
Cultivation...................................................................................................................._____________ 129
Yields-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_____________ 130
Household agricultural productivity...........—.........—.....------.........................................................131
Summary___.....................................— ....------— ......................—.....—........-------------------------------134
5.3.5 Dryland agriculture: Rainfall, crop yields and soil fertility....................._____________737
Farmer narratives: changing rainfall patterns —...—----------------—------------------------------------137
Farmer narratives: dedining crop yields..........................................................................................137
Understanding locally held wisdoms...— ......................................................-------______________138
Rainfall and soil fertility: synergistic dynamics?.............................................................................139
Expensive investments and uncertain returns..........-----................— ..—........—----------------------139
5.3.6 ‘Twililage pe twiwumiT - Let us eat while we are still alive!— ..............____________ 739
5.37 Wetland agriculture: rainfall, crop yields and soil fertility....____ ________________740
High inputs and high returns: predictability and profits...—.—......................................................140
5.3.8 Livelihood options...............................................^.......................................______________747
Livelihood diversification..........___................._____.........._____________ . _____________141
Debt, market speculation and value adding.......................................................----------------------141
5.4 Conclusion...—...........— ...—......—.........................................................................................................142
6 The Hparakuyo of Idodi: Contending with change..............................................
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6.1 The establishment of the Hparakuyo in Idodi....—.........—.............—............— .......—...-------........... 145
6.1.1 Pre-Ujamaa: new frontiers — ------------.............—......------ —---------........—........---------145
6.1.2 Ujamaa and its consequences.................................................................................................148
6.2 The Barabaig in Idodi — ....— ..— .....—..—......................—...-----...— -----..........................—...... 149
6.2.1 The arrival of the Barabaig in Idodi.....................................................................................150
6.2.2 The Barabaig domestic unit, development cycle and household economy....................... 151
6.2.3 Barabaig herding in Idodi. ....................................................................J 52
6.2.4 Barabaig and farmer land-use relations..................—................................................— .... 153
6.2.5 Social organisation, property relations and jural institutions ---------—................-------... 154
6.3 Hparakuyo landscape occupancy-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------155
6.3.1 Pastoral ecology and range use patterns...................------ ......................................156
6.3.2 Livestock disease and range-use patterns-----------— ...............—.....------— .................159
6.3.3 Range agreements, range tenure and farm fields.....— ......................................................161
6.3.4 Farming..............................................................................................— ..— ............................ 162
6.4 Livelihoods....................—......................—........—...........— -----........—........— — .... .... 163
6.4.1 Households...............................................................................................................................164
6.4.2 Herd structure and management ....------—...............................—..........— ------— .. 168
Analytical considerations.............................-------....— .......................................................................170
Herd structure and stodc distribution................................................................................................174
Herd transactions.......................—............—....................— .........—...........-----....--------.........------- 18 2
6.4.3 Farming __.....__...------------ —................................................................................185
The significance of hired labour in cultivation— ....—.........—....................................— .............189
6.4.4 Livelihood strategies........--------- — ______ —...................................................................189
Herd decline and comparative livestock holdings.............................................................—...—... 196
6.5 Conclusion.......— ----..............................................— ...........— ....—..— ....................—.......................198
7 Negotiating the political ecology of landed resources..............—........................................ 200
7.1 Introduction......................—...—..........___..............—.............---...—...— --------- —------- — ...........200
7.2 The socio-ecologicaI context to resource dispute: what does land mean and to whom?.............201
7.2.1 Farmers: expanding frontiers, fertility decline, and new technology — ___ ...202
7.2.2 Herders: seasonal grazing systems, demarcated landscapes and expanding fie!ds......203
7.2.3 Farmers and herders: complementary and conflicting land-use practices...... ... .204
Defining terms and describing the nature of disagreement.............—..— .................... .......... 204
Complementary land-use practices....................................—.— ....................... ............. 205
Conflicting land-use practices.............— ...... 206
Changing land-use priorities.... ...------------ —-----------..........—........... ....................... 207
Summary...............................................................................................................................................209
7.3 Social affiliations, land-use and conflict ..................___..................— ............. ... 209
7.3.1 Law and social process.................____ .............._................................................................209
7.3.2 Social affiliations and negotiated outcomes between herder and farmer...... .......210
Group: herder - farmer and land-use agreements in Mahuninga ward...........__..............__211
Leaving a rights-based dispute unresolved - Mahuninga village---------------------------------------214
Resolving disagreement through negotiation - Makifu village.^..—________..............______.215
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Networks: individual herder-farmer relations and land-use outcomes......................................216
Groups and networks: ‘on-stage’ and ‘off-stage’ discourses.—....------------ ....217
Summary ..............................................................................................................................................218
7.3.3 Conflict and the undermining of social affiliations.—.........—.....— -----.....--------—.......27 8
The context to conflict: resource use pressure.................................................................................219
Explaining Barabaig - farmer dispute----...—.—............--------.....--------— .— .— ..— ............219
Crisis and beginning the negotiation of landscape use—............................................................221
The case of the Hparakuyo: undermined social affiliations and landscape occupancy..........224
Conclusions...—.....— .— ................— .........................—......—....------------.......— .........—....-----.225
7.3.4 Controlling the terminology ....... 226
7.4 Conclusion: Landscape and livelihood outcomes.................—...------— .....—.................-----.......... 228
8 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................232
8.1 Disaggregating trends in land-use relations in Idodi.......................---------— .— ....—........—.— 232
8.2 Negotiated land-use agreements: too much flexibility?..........—.—.— -----......------ 235
8.3 Looking to the future: the case of herders in Idodi.........—......— ........—...— .......— ...............235
8.4 Business as usual?...............—...............—...—.......—....-------— -----------------—.— ---------......-----------238
A1: A short overview of Local government in Tanzania . 240
A2: A FAO land cover scheme for the Idodi and Pawaga rangelands......-...._.......___ 244
A3: A Provisional Gazetteer of the Idodi and Pawaga Villages......—........................------ 246
A4: The reported incidence of disease in the Idodi livestock herd.......___ — ___....___..... 255
A5: Age grades and age sets of the ttpartdcuyo in Idodi —....— ..................................... ......2 56
Bibliography.—...------............-----....................—..............— ________ ............ ........... 257
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Figures
Figure 3.1: The topography of Tanzania, location of major wetlands and general tsetse fly
distribution--------....—....--------...—.....................................-----------------...........----------- ....-----47
Figure 3.2: Average rainfall distribution for Tanzania................................................................48
Figure 3.3: Wildlife protected areas in Tanzania in 2004 [not including forest reserves] (Baldus
and Cauldwell 2004)--------— .............. 61
Figure 4.1: The location of the study site in Tanzania - the Idodi villages, Iringa District- — ..—..73
Figure 4.2: The villages of Idodi, herder homesteads and land-use areas.... ................... —.........75
Figure 4.3: The Lunda-Mkwambi Game Controlled Area looking west from Idelemule Mountain
in Tungamalenga in the dry season—....................................—.— ......— --------..........—......-----...—77
Figure 4.4: The Ikwavilav alley looking south towards Mahuninga from Tungamalenga in the
dry season --------------------------.......------------------------------------—.— ...— ...............................77
Figure 5.1: The Ruaha River valley during the British colonial period circa 1950----------...------.....------98
Figure 5.2: The Ruaha River valley circa 2003............— ...................— ....— .....................................99
Figure 5.3: The Ikwavila valley during the late British colonial era - circa 1950---------------------------107
Figure 5 A: The Ikwavila valley today - area 2003....------— ................................................................108
Figure 5.5: The history of field allocation in the Ikwavila valley in the last 50 years.........................109
Figure 5.6: The distribution of household sizes in the Ikwavila valley as measured in total
people per household (all adults and children).....— .—.......------..........-----------------------------------113
Figure 5.7: The distribution of household sizes in the Ikwavila valley as measured in Reference
Adults —— ............................ — .......-----..........................— ..................................................113
Figure 5.8: A Wetland ‘bonde’ rice fields with a ‘vynungu’ banana patch in the distance—.....—...... 117
Figure 5.9: Harvested dryland ‘nchi kavu’ fields with nitrogen fixing Acacia albida trees...................117
Figure 5.10: Overall land tenure patterns in the Ikwavila valley— ——_____ ____________ 122
Figure 5-11 = The pattern of household access to all arable land in the Ikwavilav alley .........123
Figure 5.12: The equitability of overall land holding per household by relative inferred wealth
status...............—.........................................................-------........---.....--------—.—.——— .— — — -124
Figure 5.13: The origin of land currently owned by households.— ..----------------......... -------- — 125
Figure 5.14: The pattern of household access to lower value dryland suitable for wet-season
cultivation only (‘nchi kavu’) in the Ikwavila valley —----------- ...._____...................._____________ ...___126
Figure 5.15: The average size of dryland holding for households categorised by relative
(inferred) wealth status.................................. ..............__....— -.........____ 126
Figure 5.16: The pattern of household access to high value garden land suitable ford ry-
season cultivation (‘busfani’ / ‘vynungu’) in the Ikwavila valley.— —......................................127
Figure 5.17: The average size of riverine garden holding for households categorised by
relative (inferred) wealth status.— . — ...... ..................— ...__ .... 127
Figure 5.18: The pattern of household access to high value land suitable for rice cultivation
(‘bonde’) in the Ikwavila valley (n=234). Fields were either owned or rented_______.....__..... 128
Figure 5.19: The average size of irrigated rice field holding for households categorised by
relative (inferred) wealth status....— — _____..........................................................128
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Figure 5.20: The proportion land cultivated in relation to total land held by households
categorised by relative (inferred) wealth status.................................................................................130
Figure 5.21: The inter-annual variation in overall crop yields for individual fields (sample sizes
individually indicated for each data set in parenthesis)----------------------------------------------------------131
Figure 5.22: Total individual ranked household crop production for the year 2000 as
measured in Cash Equivalents per Reference Adult------ —............-------— ....— --------.......— ... 132
Figure 5.23: Total individual household crop production for the year 2001 as measured in
Cash Equivalents per Average Adult Male Equivalent. — --------— .— -------—....— -----132
Figure 5.24: Total individual household crop production for the years 2000 and 2001
compared as measured in Cash Equivalents per Average Adult Male Equivalent--------------------133
Figure 5.25: Inter-annual household dryland crop production measured in cash equivalents per
reference adult and classified into inter-quartile ranges--------------------------------------------------------135
Figure 5.26: Inter-annual household wetland crop production measured in cash equivalents per
reference adult and classified into inter-quartile ranges--------------------------------------------------------135
Figure 5.27: Inter-annual household total crop production measured in cash equivalents per
reference adult and classified into inter-quartile ranges--------------------------------------------------------135
Figure 5.28: Women brewing mbege together - by cooking the maize gruel wort in the early
stages of the brew-process..............................—..................-------...---------------.....-------------...----------136
Figure 5.29: A group of men playing ‘boo’ (a popular board game) at ’kilubu’ (beer club) in
Mahuninga— ............____ ..........--------......— ..—.....---------------------------------------— .—......------— 136
Figure 6.1: Grazing farm fields during the early dry season....................................................................158
Figure 6.2: Chamyina mountain and highland scarps looking south from Idodi village
rangelands near Kibikimuno ............................................................................................................158
Figure 6.3: Tending small stock in the enkang’ in the early morning.............................— .— .......— .. 169
Figure 6.4: llaiyok with their favourite oxen.................................................................................................169
Figure 6.5: Livestock holdings for each oImarei during the year 2000 — .....................................------177
Figure 6.6: Livestock holdings for each oImarei during the year 2001 ........— .....................................177
Figure 6.7: A dam built by an Hparakuyo pastoralist to irrigate his crops...------...-----........—............. 180
Figure 6.8: The irrigated field with a crop of onions nearly ready for market.......— ...— .............180
Figure 6.9: Areas cultivated by each Olmarei for the two major crops - maize and rice - in
2000______________________________________________________________________________ 186
Figure 6.10: Areas cultivated by each OImarei for the two major crops - maize and rice - in
2001 186
Figure 6.11: The relative comparative index value (in cash equivalents) of combined Hparakuyo
livelfcood strategies for 2000—...............— ...—......--------.......— ----------...........--------......--------... 190
Figure 6.12: The relative comparative index value (in cash equivalents) of combined Hparakuyo
livelihood strategies for 2001 ..— .....................................................................— .........___ ....___190
Figure 6.13: The inter-annual variation in livestock (both large and small stock) available per
reference adult.........— .....................— ...—...................... — ..............................................195
Figure 6.14: The inter-annual variation in area cultivated per reference adult—.............—....-----.... 195
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