Land Tenure

Land Tenure

Land in Tanzania is state property that can be leased for up to 99 years. The law does not allow individual Tanzanians to sell land to foreigners. The history of land tenure in Tanzania dates back to pre-colonial period before 1880’s when different tribes had their own ways of accessing, owning, controlling and disposing of land.

Types of land tenure

There are two main types of Land Tenure that are recognized by law in Tanzania which are;

• Granted Right of Occupancy
• Deemed Right of Occupancy

Procedure for the Granting of Rights of Occupancy

Land can be allocated to individuals by the land allocation committees at national, district, township level only after:-

• An applicant has applied by filling land application forms
• A directive from the Ministry responsible for lands

Revocation of rights of Occupancy

• Apart from granting rights of occupancy to individuals, the President may revoke a right of occupancy for good cause or in the Public interest where he is satisfied that:
• There has been an attempted disposition of a right of occupancy of a right of occupancy to a non-citizen
• The land subject of right of occupancy has been abandoned for not less than two years.
• Where the right of occupancy is of land of an area of not less than five hundred hectares and less than eighty per centum of that area of land has been unused for the purpose for which the right of occupancy was granted for not less than five years.
• There has been a disposition which does not comply with the provision of the New Land Act, No.4 of 1999.
• The land is required for public use

Crop zoning (regions) in Tanzania

Corn

The main corn producing regions in the country are Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa, and Ruvuma

Sorghum
Sorghum is grown in marginal rainfall regions and Dodoma, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Lindi, Mwanza, Morogoro

Wheat
Large-scale private farmers produce wheat in Arusha, Iringa, and Kilimanjaro regions

Millet

The regions are Dodoma, Singida and Shinyanga where over 80 percent of bulrush millet is produced.   Finger millet is very popular in the south-western regions of Ruvuma, Iringa, Mbeya and Rukwa.

Paddy Rice

The major paddy rice producing regions are Shinyanga, Mwanza, Morogoro, Mbeya and Tabora which account for nearly two thirds of the total production.