Participatory Land Use Planning Policy Implementation in Ulanga District, Tanzania: Assessment of Zones Sufficiency

Land use plans have been considered as a solution to land use problems and hence enhance ecological, economic and social sustainability of land use. Appropriateness of land use plans and hence its potential for adherence may rely on sufficiency of zones allocated for different land uses. This study was designed to empirically identify land use implementation problems and suggest solutions relevant to the land users, the government, planners and other stakeholders. Specifically, the study assesses: (1) The extent to which the land use zones cover all zones needed by the stakeholders and; (2) Reasons for levels of sufficiency of the allocated land use zones. Data were collected through household survey of 120 respondents from two villages, key informants, focus group discussions and field observation survey while secondary data were collected through review of guidelines for land use planning, village land use plans, district land use framework, books and journals. Information used to assess sufficiency of land use zones used in Village Land Use Plans (VLUP) from household survey and village records were descriptively analysed. The implementation of village land use plans was not done as expected. Land use zones were insufficient in terms of the allocated size and needs within the zones for current and future situation. Overall the insufficiency of the land use zones was reported by 90% of the respondents. For individual land use zones the insufficiency was reported by the following percentages of the respondents: 95.0% for residential zone, 89.2% for agriculture zone, 96.7 for grazing zone, 25.2 for forest zone, 0% for wildlife management area, 0% for wildlife corridor and 0% for wetland. The reasons for insufficiency of the land use zones were increasing population, overstocking, and lack of infrastructure necessary within specific zones. Other factors included inadequate consideration for uncertainties in population projection standard, unclear zoning regulation and discrepancy in population data. Based on the findings and conclusions, this study makes the following recommendations. First, the National Land Use Planning Commission should devise mechanisms to ensure that all the six steps of land use planning are completed towards implementable land use plans. Secondly, the national land use planning commission should review zoning standards to sufficiently allocate the land use zones. The population projections used for future allocation of land had influence on the sufficiency of the zones where the rate of population increase is assumed to be fixed throughout the ten years implementation period without consideration of uncertainties. It is worth incorporating GIS to establish trend of land use and forecast future land use to sufficiently allocate land during the 10 years lifespan of the VLUP. Thirdly, the national land use planning commission need to validate spatial data and population data at village level to avoid discrepancies which affect implementation of the village land use plans.