Determinants of rural land use conflicts in west district-Zanzibar

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Date

2014

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

This study was conducted in West District Zanzibar to assess the determinants of rural land use conflict. Specifically, the study identified the prevailing land use conflicts and types of land tenure systems existing, as well as assessing the influence of demographic, socio-economic and institutional arrangements on land use conflicts. A cross section research design was adopted with 125 household’s respondents. Data were collected through questionnaires and key informant interview. Binary logistic regression model and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. The result identified live main types of land use conflicts prevailing in the study area namely government and community, community and investors, farmers and pastoralists. villagers and villagers as well as community and military camps, whereby land tenure system has changed from communal status to individual/private ownership; lease hold has replaced customary freehold and other form of interests. Three fundamental factors mainly demographic, socio-economic, policy and institutional arrangement were identified to have direct influence on land use conflicts in the study area. The result of logistic analysis reveal that age (p<0.05), land utilization (p< 0.05), land size (p<0.05), land conflicts panel (p<0.05) and household size (p<0.05) had positive significant influence on land use conflicts. The study conclude that demography, socioeconomic as well as policy and institution arrangement are the main determinants of the existing land use conflicts in the study area where the existing weak institutions made local communities compete for land resource without being regulated. The study further recommends that land use conflict needs establishment of strong institutional organs and committed leadership in all levels, in order to provide enabling environment and transform it into practice so as to achieve desirable objectives.

Description

Master of Arts Dissertation in Rural Development

Keywords

Land use conflicts, Land tenure systems, West district-Zanzibar

Citation