Economic cost of Kiteto land crisis

Kiteto. Insecurity caused by endless land conflicts is likely to impact on the economy of Kiteto district should the situation remain like that in the long run.

The recent deadly clashes, in particular, led to the suspension of the cattle auctions in various villages while commercial farmers, and smallholders alike, may be scared to invest in the fertile lands there.

“The closure of the cattle auctions means livestock owners have been deprived of income. Likewise, the district council will also be denied of one of its major sources of revenue,” lamented District Executive Director Bosco Ndunguru.

Kiteto, one of the five districts in Manyara Region, has over 300,000 head of cattle alone. That is besides goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs and poultry.

That is well above the human population estimated at about 200,000. One village alone was found to have some 11,000 head of cattle. The district covers 16,000 square kilometres, making it one of the largest districts in size.

According to Mr Ndunguru, the local authority was earning at least 20 per cent of its annual revenues from the livestock sector through various levies on the weekly or monthly auctions and abbatoirs.

He could not give any figure on revenue or livestock losses incurred during the recent past but said the disturbances gave room to theft of cattle, thereby compounding the problem.

“If the livestock were not stolen during the confusion, then they were either slaughtered indiscriminately by gangs of criminals or set to graze on the farms blossoming with crops. All these caused economic losses to the district,” he told The Citizen.

The vast district has a weak economic base compared with others in Manyara, mainly because of its semi-arid conditions which best suit livestock keeping, especially nomadic pastoralism.

Revenue collections from all sectors are only slightly above Sh1 billion a year, peanuts by all standards. Incidentally, agriculture contributes about 70 per cent of the revenue.

The council collects Sh1,500 from each 100-kilo bag of maize as cess. “This is a farming district. You may not believe it but we have over 1,200 tractors,” he said, adding that a huge chunk of maize sold at the famous Kibaigwa market in Dodoma Region comes from Kiteto.

The remaining 10 per cent of the local authority’s revenues is sourced from a range of economic activities such as trading licences, property tax, service levy, retention of plots and others.

But it is the farming boom which has turned out to be the source of the conflict now facing the district because of the reported huge influx of farmers from neighbouring districts, notably Kongwa, Kondoa and Gairo.

Livestock keepers claim the influx has taken over their grazing areas, an assertion opposed by farmers who insisted that they followed the proper channels to settle in registered villages.

Farmers have also challenged the allegations, saying while 66 per cent (or 11,111 square km) of the entire district’s land surface has been reserved for hunting and grazing, only 3,800 square kilometres (23 per cent ) has been set aside for farming.

About 10 per cent of the district’s land surface is covered by the natural forests and has been reserved for conservation purposes.

“The source of the current crisis in Kiteto is political leaders who are keen to divide the farmers and livestock keepers so that they do not co-exist and instead fight each other,” lamented Bakari Maunganya, a resident of Kimana Village.

He claimed farmers were on the receiving end in the conflict because livestock have been grazing on their farms and that some of them have been forced out of some fertile areas for crop production with the tacit support of the authorities.

But this was dismissed by acting District administrative secretary Nicodemus Bei who said the boundaries of the disputed conservation area have been drawn afresh and that people who settled within the extended borders - farmers and livestock keepers - have been removed.

Among the areas which both the traditional herders and district officials claim to have been invaded by farmers is a community conservation area established a few years ago -- Emborney Murtangos.

The 135,000 hectares conservation area was initiated by the Arusha-based non-governmental organization, Community Research and Development Services, headed by the current MP Benedict Ole Nangoro.

The aim was to conserve part of the terrain in the district so that it supports the local communities, especially the livestock keepers, during periods of prolonged droughts which are common in the area.

The ecological status of the contested area could not be ascertained but accounts had it that it has a wetland used as a salt lick by the livestock as well as ponds for water supply to the surrounding villages.

Accounts have it that the conservation area was formed by seven villages mainly to serve as a dry season ‘refuge’ for the residents of the semi-arid district whose large herds suffer greatly from repeated droughts.

The villages are Namelok, Kimana, Lotapes, Ndirigish, Engusero Sidan, Ermati and Nhati and was gazetted after its boundaries were drawn through the support of Cords.

Although the involvement of Cords has been criticised by some farmers, the district officials have defended the NGO saying there was nothing wrong with outsourcing survey and demarcation of the conservation area to a private entity.

However, the reserve has been engrossed in a legal wrangle between the farmers, including those who were removed to pave way for conservation on one side, and the pastoralists and local authorities on the other side.

Initially, the farmers filed a case before the Land Court opposing eviction from the area, claiming they had nowhere to settle other than the disputed area. They had wanted the government to find them an alternative area to settle permanently.

The court allowed them to settle in the disputed reserve. But the district council successfully filed an appeal in the higher court, paving the way for eviction of people who had settled in the conservation plot. The case has simmered since 2007.

Two of the seven villages around the reserve, Emarti and Nhati are reported to have pulled out of the conservation programme as the government stepped in to demarcate the area afresh. The work is being done this time around by government surveyors.