Land use assessment in reserve lands: a case study of Mboole-Muyonzo traditional land in Zambia
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Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Reliable and up to date information about land use practices and available land resources in an area is essential for successful resource development and conservation. A land use assessment study was carried out
in Mboole-Muyonzo Traditional Land, within the Tonga-Choma
Reserve Land No. 21 in Southern Zambia. The objectives of the study were (a)
to assess current land utilisation and management, (b) to assess land use change and demographic change between 1970 and 1991, and 1969 and 1990 respectively, and (c) to estimate future land requirement in the year 2000, assuming all other
factors
are held
constant except population growth.
Sequential aerial photography was used in assessing land
use change during the study period. The study also attempted
to project human population in the year 2000 using the
exponential population growth model. A field survey was
carried out to assess land utilisation and management and
resource degradation in the area. The results of the study
are: human population more than doubled in two decades with
5% annual growth, cultivated land expanded by 68.4% between
1970 and 1991, cattle stocking level was 2.4 ha/beast/year at the time of the survey (i.e. 40-60% overstocking) and
available grazing
land
was
less
than
half
the
requirement, and shortage of good arable land has forced the
inhabitants to cultivate the hilly terrain resulting in all
forms of soil erosion. The study also established that land
shortage in the area was more as a result of the 1969
coercive displacement of people to give way for the Batoka
ranch project than of rapid population growth. Changes in land tenure structure and land distribution pattern in the province are advisable. Periodic surveillance and monitoring land utilisation on both reserve lands
and
state
land
farming
areas through
sequential aerial photography and sequential geographical
analysis techniques is a must if the nation is to succeed
in resolving the problems of land degradation in reserve
lands and land idleness in state land farming areas.
Relocation of some families (e.g.the 13.6% who own 44.4% of
the cattle)
is
advisable.
Initiating a
land and water
management project with livestock development,grazing land
management,and soil-and-water conservation as major project
components is strongly recommended in the area.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Land use, Land distribution, Land utilization, Mboole-Muyonzo, Zambia