“Who took our land - the world bank or the state?” the land question in the state plantation forests in Tanzania: the case of the Sao Hill forests, 1962-2012

Abstract

The Sao Hill plantation forest, with 135,903ha, is the biggest state plantation in Tanzania. Its history goes back to 1939. The postcolonial period tremendously
increased its acreage from 18,000ha in 1962 to 135,903ha by 2012. Despite the biggest share of the land it holds, there is little documentation by scholars, especially on the aspects of the source of capital and the process it went through to acquire land from customary owners in the 1970s. This article discusses the expansion strategies of the sole state-owned Sao Hill forests, with a glance at the source of capital and land for the expansion in postcolonial Tanzania. The paper raises the problems that arose because of the expansion and the response of customary land owners and the state between 1962 and 2012. It uses archival sources and interviews as the main sources of data to arrive at its conclusion. The main findings show that the World Bank directly and indirectly influenced the introduction of Sao Hill plantation forestry as it was its loan conditions that determined the size and geographical locations of the land to be planted trees. Therefore, the post -planting period experienced land contestations from the formerly customary land owners as the planting exercise’s pace was determined by the World Bank.

Keywords: Tanzania, Mufindi, Sao Hill, forests, land