World Bank Technical Paper No. 370. Local land users and officials often have conflicting perceptions of and responses to land degradation issues. This causes problems for officials in diagnosing and addressing the issue and is a major constraint on the successful implementation of policies and projects to address land degradation. This study looks at the perception and response gap between officials and land users in the diagnosis and remedy of land degradation. It also examines the dynamics of the loss of soil fertility and low productivity at the village level. The study's findings will help shape investment programs to enhance land productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There are about four million peasant families in Tanzania. They farm on the smallest scale, the average farm being two acres in size. The principal agricultural equipment is the hand hoe. Since the onset of the colonial era, those in authority have pursued policies to dominate the peasantry. It is argued that the small scale of operations has contributed to the widespread poverty among farmers. There is still good agricultural land that is not farmed, but the current land tenure of peasants reproduces itself on new farmland. The conclusion is that in order to accelerate agricultural development, land tenure must be institutionalized.

Declining soil fertility due to inadequate farming practices, deforestation and overgrazing are among the primary impediments to increased agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. These causal factors, driven by social, economic and political forces, manifest themselves in market, policy and institutional failures, inappropriate technologies and practices. This is also the case in Tanzania where over 90 percent of the population is rural and depends on land resources for its livelihood. This study examines the most significant issues affecting levels of productivity and land quality at the community and village level, where local land users take decisions on cropping and livestock management. The specific objectives of the study were to examine farmers' perceptions, particularly their understanding and interpretation of factors and indicators which they link to soil erosion and fertility decline, the level of degradation of crop and pastureland, and the institutional capacity to implement soil conservation and fertility measures with particular regard to land tenure policies, local organizations and extension service. The investigators also sought to identify the technologies, best practices and indigenous knowledge used by households to control erosion, enhance soil fertility, and increase crop and livestock productivity among smallholders.

This Book Captures The Stimulating Deliberations Of The Costed Workshop On Regional Land Cover Changes, Sustainable Agriculture And Their Impacts On Global Change , Held At Chennai During December 16 19, 1996. The Papers Presented Cover Wide-Ranging Issues Relating To The Sustainable Use Of Natural Resources, Institutional Arrangements For Land Use Policy, Global Change Concerns In The Region Brought About By Unsustainable Agriculture Systems And Land Use Practices, Etc.

Several attempts have been made since the early years of independence of Tanzania to address land degradation. Policies and strategies were formulated that emphasized on the importance of land conservation in achieving economic growth. However, the context in which the earlier strategies were designed and implemented led to further land degradation. Failure of these interventions was partly because policies which backed them remained sectoral and most of them adopted the top-down approach with very little involvement of communities. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro created a new chapter in the country by insisting on the importance of sustainable development. The new policies and strategies were formulated with intentions to correct the past mistakes. This paper has assessed the extent to which Tanzania's post-UNCED policies and strategies address the recent challenges of climate change on land degradation as reported by the IPCC in 2007. It involved review of selected policies, strategies and related literature on land degradation and climate change. The National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) and two other sectoral strategies were reviewed in addition to the environmental, agricultural and water policies. The study finds that significant short and long-term measures to combat the negative effects of land use practices on the land resource are addressed. However, constant review of the policies and strategies is required to ensure that emerging challenges are addressed as part of the overall efforts to combat impacts of global climate change.