Livelihoods in limbo? Directions of land use change and livelihood implications for smallholder farmers and herders in the aftermath of two cancelled land deals in rural Tanzania

Abstract

This paper addresses the gap in the land grab literature about the effects of non-operational land deals – land deals that have been cancelled before they become operational, stalled, scaled back, or went bankrupt. Based on two non-operational agro- investments in Kigoma, Tanzania it explores, in particular, the directions of land use change and their livelihood implications for the agro-pastoralists who settled on the uncultivated post-investment land, and for the adjacent village communities, who were dispossessed of the land before investment., Using mixed qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, focus groups, resource mapping and transect walks between 2013-2023, the paper shows that while such “land in limbo” constitutes valuable, large and fertile land for the immigrating Sukuma agro-pastoralists, the uncertainty and risk that comes with “limbo” to a certain extent impacts how they use the land which comes with livelihood implications. Thus, even though the agricultural production on the land is currently higher than it ever was under the investors, the “limbo” prevents land use at its full potential. Moreover, the Sukuma’s immigration has kept villagers out of the land both by making farming difficult for the few farmers on the land post-investment by bringing in cattle, and through fear created by a local narrative about Sukuma as “violent invaders”. The investment is thus a double loss for adjacent villages, losing land but not re-gaining access to it, while not getting any investment benefits. Therefore, the current state of limbo leaves the migrant Sukuma and villagers in a win-lose scenario characterised by high contestation over land between the immigrant Sukuma, the government and the villages.

Keywords

Large-scale agricultural investments; failed land deals; non-operational; land in limbo; livelihoods; Tanzania

Published in

LDPI Working Paper
2024, number: 2024-063
Publisher: The Land Deal Politics Initiative

SLU Authors

• Engström, Linda

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Economics and Management and Rural development

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/140328