By Masalu Luhula, Landesa Senior Land Tenure Specialist

More than three quarters of Tanzania’s villages—an estimated 9,000—lacked a formal land use plan as of the end of 2024.

But that number is now set to diminish, thanks to the launch of a revised National Land Policy, which commits to enhancing systems for preparation and implementation of village land use plans nationwide.

The March launch is the culmination of a nine-year review and revision process that welcomed input from both state and non-state actors, including two special submissions from Landesa, and is aimed at improving land governance nationwide.

Safeguarding rights

The revised National Land Policy also improves land dispute resolution processes. Land conflicts have long been a nationwide problem in Tanzania, with potential to lead to violence, displacement, and reduced land productivity. Landesa has been advocating for an overhaul to Tanzania’s previous, ineffective approach to land use conflict resolution. The updated policy enacts strengthened mechanisms to control the causes of land disputes, improves efficiency and effectiveness of responsible bodies, prioritizes mediation before adjudication, and fosters public awareness around the land legal system.

Under the new policy, Tanzanian women have gained the right to inherit clan lands—a right long denied on the basis of discriminatory customs and traditions. The policy establishes new mechanisms to ensure gender-equal rights to access land and guarantees women equal opportunities to access rights to land.

The policy also benefits rural residents and the environment through land-based investment, a longstanding contentious matter in Tanzania since privatization policies of the 1990’s took hold. Moving forward, investors will be allocated land according to their capacity to develop sustainable use while safeguarding citizens’ interests and ensuring sustainable benefits for landowners.

Land acquisitions similarly stand to safeguard human rights. The revised National Land Policy aims to ensure transparency and fairness in land acquisition, an arena that has often ignored the right to decline a non-beneficial acquisition. The new policy decrees adequate awareness and sufficient time, in addition to improved mechanisms around compensation level, for land acquisitions.

Ground left uncovered

However, despite these positive directions, there remain limitations in the revised National Land Policy. Land acquisition safeguards are focused more on instances where the acquisition is led by the national government itself and does not fully address other models of land acquisition like contract farming, joint ventures, and outgrower schemes, which also have potential for human rights violations.

Another crucial shortcoming is the policy’s failure to recognize, clarify, and secure in law the customary rights of rural residents. Of the 42 million Tanzanians who live in rural areas, the majority are pastoralists and smallholder farmers earning their livelihoods from customarily held land. Compulsory taxation on all land in Tanzania and a lack of safeguards leave customary smallholders at risk.

Though not without these opportunities for improvement, the launch of Tanzania’s revised National Land Policy, with its accompanying implementation strategy, is a milestone for millions of residents nationwide. Stronger, more equitable land governance lays the groundwork for economic and social benefits for generations to come.