A number of forest acres in Ruangwa have been intentionally cleared by villagers for farming activities; this is taking place because there is no land use plan.
Deforestation is among the main challenges that face the district, but it was revealed that the problem can be solved by introducing a land use plan in each village in the district, currently the villages has no land use plan.
“In order to control this the district plans to introduce land use planning which will allocate specific areas for cultivation, so that those who go against will face legal action,” he said. Ruangwa district is one of six districts in Lindi region.
The area is blessed with a number of forest resources, but some of its residents do not recognize its importance to their daily life. A land use plan will allow villagers in the district to better and more effectively manage their lands without destroying natural resources.
“A land use plan will help to locate special areas for farming activities only and areas designated for development as well as reserved forest areas.
” The DFO explained Masangya narrated that land use plan is highly needed in the district because it is an important tool for balancing investment and development opportunities in the village with responsible environmental management, conservation and community aspirations.
He added that with the absence of land use plan ,some of the Ruangwa resident defended that they have not seen the benefits of forest, therefore it is useful for them to burn forest and cultivate various food product which is directly help them.
The DFO explained that despite the fact that Ruangwa is implementing the participatory forest harvesting since 2004 but the villagers ignore the efforts and cleared the forest.
The officer explained this during the Mama Misitu campaign in the village. The campaign has gone a long way to helping communities manage forests and benefit from the resource. It is a five-year communication programme coordinated by the Tanzania Natural Resources Forum (TNRF) and funded by the Finnish government.
The aim is to institute good governance of Tanzania’s forests and promote sustainable harvesting of resources so that Tanzanians can increasingly benefit from proper management of forests. According to DFO, deforestation has increased in the district due to farming activities, especially sesame farming.
“The absence of proper land use plan is the main cause of these challenges, currently the village has no land use plan therefore villagers take this as their defending factor to clear the forest.
The district is now planning to prepare the best land use plan with its bylaws in order to protect the forest from more damage.
A land use plan will effectively guide the villagers on which area set for cultivation and taking legal action for those who will go against. Presently the village fails to take action because no proper land use plan.
However, the DFO explained that the political ideology in the village in another factors that leads to deforestation in the district because even if they form a various committee to protect forest in the district it shortly break due to the conflict of interest between members from different political parties.
Currently the sesame farming in the product that threatened the life of reserved forest in the district. Farmers in the district were used to burn forest purposely for clearing land so that they can plant sesame.
The officer explained that sesame farming has been the main problems because villagers at a time may clear hundreds of acres at the reserved forest without considering its environmental impact.
“This is a major challenge that fails the efforts of protecting the reserved forest, because most of the farmers practice shifting cultivation which has also contributes to clear more acres of forest “the Officer explained.
He added that most of the villagers have low knowledge over the benefits of forest the reason that most of them proudly of Kilimo kwanza slogan saying that agriculture is mostly important for their life than having forest.
He noted that the trend of clearing forest has increased yearly this is because the sesame farming need clear land for it to grow well, therefore the villagers clear the forest without considering the potentiality of trees found at the area.
The Ward Executive Officer at Mchichiri village in Ruangwa Charles Joseph said that more education is needed to help villagers to understand the good benefits of having forest the fact that will help to reduce the major challenge of clearing forest because of sesame farming.
A Mandawa Ward Executive Officer, Salida Masunga explained that they face a difficult time in protecting the reserved forest because sometime villagers used to clear it during night; hence, it is not easy to arrest them.
Masunga added that the villages formed a forest patrol team which used to mount several forest patrols which helped to some extent, but did not solve the problem.
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