By GODFREY  ELISEUS MASSAY

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Land-use conflict is not a new phenomenon for pastoralists  and farmers in Tanzania with murders, the killing of livestock and the loss of property as  a  consequence of  this  conflict  featuring   in  the  news  for  many years  now.  Various actors,  including civil society organisations, have tried  to  address  farmer–pastoralist conflict through  mass  education programmes, land-use planning, policy reforms and  the development of community institutions. However, these efforts have not succeeded in the conflict. Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa traditional systems are not making much headway either. This paper finds that resolving the mutual hostility between farmers and  pastoralists  is problematic because it is linked to historical evictions that happened from the colonial and  post- colonial  period  until the early  1990s. It also  points  to the limitations of Tanzania’s formal land  dispute  settlement  machinery, which  does not provide appropriate forums and  mechanisms  for resolving farmer– pastoralist   conflicts.  The paper argues that  the  existing  systems  do not favour the interests of either farmers  or pastoralists, and  calls for specific reforms.  Drawing  on the experiences of a farmer–pastoralist platform  established  by  the  Tanzania  Natural   Resource  Forum,  a local  non-governmental organisation  working  on  natural   resource governance issues,  it proposes an  alternative  mechanism  based on the popular participation of the victims in resolving such conflicts. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE