Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Farmers at the Edge: Property Formalisation and Urban Agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

  • Published:
Urban Forum Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In light of the recent debate on the merits of formalising property rights in developing countries, this paper explores recent efforts to combine property formalisation and urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The paper is based on a close examination of the formalisation consultation process that was carried out by a ‘western’ NGO in Dar es Salaam between 2010 and 2012. It uses discursive analysis of documents produced by relevant parties, including the NGO, governments and others. Additional insights were gained through attending the consultation workshops among stakeholders, conducted by the NGO in 2011. The paper argues that formalisation in Dar es Salaam was not conducted in the democratic, pro-poor manner envisioned by many of its advocates. Instead, the process was largely driven from the top-down, with the vast majority of urban farmers excluded from the consultation process. While poor urban farmers could benefit from having their land rights clarified and secured in places like Dar es Salaam, formalisation seems to have reinforced their relegation to the edge of society, physically and ideologically.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. These numbers may be conservative, as they are derived from a single study conducted in 2003.

  2. Derived from a document produced by the western NGO in 2013.

  3. The NGO's documents, 2013.

  4. Remarks made in the short film produced by the NGO, 2013.

  5. The NGO's film, 2013.

  6. The NGO's report on the consultation workshop, March 2011.

  7. The NGO's report, 2013.

  8. The NGO's report, March 2011.

  9. The NGO's report, July 2011.

  10. Derived from a 2013 reported produced by the NGO.

  11. The NGO's report, March 2011.

  12. The NGO's report, March 2011.

  13. Discussed during the workshop in July 2011, documented by the NGO.

  14. The NGO's report, March 2011.

  15. The film produced by the NGO, 2013.

References

  • Battersby, J., & Marshak, M. (2013). Growing communities: integrating the social and economic benefits of urban agriculture in Cape Town. Urban Forum. doi:10.1007/s12132-013-9193-1.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. (2011, December 11). Tanzania floods: Heavy rains inundate Dar es Salaam. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16299734.

  • Benjaminsen, T. (2002). Formalising land tenure in rural Africa. Forum for Development Studies, 29(2), 362–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjaminsen, T., Holden, S., Lund, C., & Sjaastad, E. (2008). Formalisation of land rights: some empirical evidence from Mali, Niger and South Africa. Land Use Policy, 26(1), 28–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benjaminsen, T., & Lund, C. (2002). Formalisation and informalisation of land and water rights in Africa: an introduction. European Journal of Development Research, 14(2), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, J. (1991). The peri-urban zone of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: recent trends and changes in agriculture land use. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 16(30), 319–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bromley, D. (2008). Formalising property relations in the developing world: the wrong prescription for the wrong malady. Land Use Policy, 26(1), 20–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Soto, H. (2000). The Mystery of Capital: Why capitalism triumphs in the West and fails everywhere else. Great Britain: Black Swan.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Soto, H. (2001). The mystery of capital. Finance and Development, 38(1), 29–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Soto, H. (2002). Law and property outside the West: a few new ideas about fighting poverty. Forum for Development Studies, 29(2), 349–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreschel, P., & Dongus, S. (2010). Dynamics and sustainability of urban agriculture: examples from sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainability Science, 5(1), 69–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dongus, S., Nyika, D., Kannady, K., Mtasiwa, D., Mshinda, H., Gosoniu, L., et al. (2009). Urban agriculture and Anopheles habitats in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Geospatial Health, 3(2), 189–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, A. (2012). De Soto's The Mystery of Capital: reflections on the book's public impact. International Development Planning Review, 34(3), v–xvii.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampwaye, G. (2013). Benefits of urban agriculture: reality or illusion? Geoforum. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.03.008.

    Google Scholar 

  • IMC. (2011). Proposed plan for urban agriculture in Ilala Municipal Council. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

  • Jacobi, P., Amend, J. & Kiango, S. (1999). Urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam: Providing an indispensable part of the diet. In N. Bakker, M. Dubbeling, S. Gundel, U. Sabel-Koschela, & J. de Zeeuw (Eds.), Growing cities, growing food: Urban agriculture on the policy agenda: A reader on urban agriculture (pp. 257–283). Germany: Deutsche Stiftung fur Internationale Entwicklung (DSE).

  • Kaarhus, R., Benjaminsen, T., Hellum, A., & Ikdahl, I. (2005). Women's land rights in Tanzania and South Africa: a human rights based perspective on formalisation. Forum for Development Studies, 32(2), 443–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kepe, T. (2009). Unjustified optimism: why the World Bank's 2008 ‘Agriculture for Development’ report misses the point for South Africa. Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(3), 637–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kironde, L. (1995). Access to land by the urban poor in Tanzania: some findings from Dar es Salaam. Environment and Urbanization, 7(1), 77–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kironde, L. (2005). The regulatory framework, unplanned development and urban poverty: findings from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Land Use Policy, 23(4), 460–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • KMC. (2011). Kinondoni municipal plan for legitimization of urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

  • Lee-Smith, D. (2010). Cities feeding people: an update on urban agriculture in equatorial Africa. Environment and Urbanization, 22(2), 483–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLees, L. (2011). Access to land for urban farming in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Histories, benefits and insecure tenure. Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(4), 601–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLees, L. (2013). A postcolonial approach to urban studies: interviews, mental maps, and photo voices on the urban farms of Dar es Salaam. The Professional Geographer, 65(2), 283–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meinzen-Dick, R., & Mwangi, E. (2008). Cutting the web of interests: pitfalls of formalizing property rights. Land Use Policy, 26(1), 36–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mlozi, M. (1997). Impacts of urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Environmentalist, 17, 115–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mlozi, M. (2003). Legal and policy aspects of urban agriculture in Tanzania. Urban Agriculture Magazine, RUAF Foundation, 40–41.

  • Mutgana, S., & Mwiruki, B. (2013). Managing vulnerability to climate extremes in Africa: some policy insights into frequent flooding in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Africa Institute of South Africa, 82, 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsa, A., Nakendo, F., McCluskey, W., & Page, M. (2011). Impact of formalisation of property rights in informal settlements: evidence from Dar es Salaam city. Land Use Policy, 28(4), 695–705.

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, G., Durand-Lasserve, A., & Rakodi, C. (2013). The limits of land titling and home ownership. Environment and Urbanization, 21(2), 443–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platteau, J. (1996). The evolutionary theory of land rights as applied to sub-Saharan Africa: a critical assessment. Development and Change, 27(1), 29–86.

  • Rogerson, C. (2011). Urban agriculture and public administration: institutional context and local response in Gauteng. Urban Forum, 22(2), 183–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruysenaar, S. (2013). Reconsidering the ‘Letsema Principle’ and the role of community gardens in food security: evidence from Gauteng, South Africa. Urban Forum, 24(2), 219–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawio, C. (1994). Who are the farmers of Dar es Salaam? In A. Egziabher, D. Lee-Smith, D. Maxwell, P. Memon, L. Mougeot, & C. Sawio (Eds.), Cities feeding people: An examination of urban agriculture in East Africa (pp. 25–46), Ottawa: IDRC.

  • Schmidt, S. (2012). Getting the policy right: urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. International Development Planning Review, 34(2), 129–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simatele, D., & Binns, T. (2008). Motivation and marginalization in African urban agriculture: the case of Lusaka, Zambia. Urban Forum, 19(1), 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sjaastad, E., & Cousins, B. (2008). Formalisation of land rights in the South: an overview. Land Use Policy, 26(1), 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A., & Rogerson, C. (2013). African cities and the millennium development goals: a case for applied geography. Applied Geography, 36, 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toulmin, C. (2008). Securing land and property rights in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of local institutions. Land Use Policy, 26(1), 10–19.

  • UN-HABITAT. (2005). The sustainable Dar es Salaam project 1992–2003: From urban environment priority issues to up-scaling strategies city-wide. Nairobi, Kenya.

  • URT. (2000). National human settlements development policy. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

  • URT. (2001). Town and Country Planning Ordinance. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

  • Von Benda-Beckmann, F. (2003). Mysteries of capital or mystification of legal property? Focaal—European Journal of Anthropology, 2003(41), 187–191.

  • Watts, M. (2000). Land rights. In R. Johnston, D. Gregory, G. Pratt, & M. Watts (Eds.), The Dictionary of Human Geography (4th ed., pp. 425–428). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ylhäisi, J. (2010). Sustainable land privatization involving participatory land use planning in rural areas: an example from Tanzania. Land Tenure Journal, 1(10), 91–120.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 100 St. George St., Rm. 5047, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S3G3

    Brock Bersaglio & Thembela Kepe

  2. Geography Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Thembela Kepe

Authors
  1. Brock Bersaglio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thembela Kepe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brock Bersaglio.

Additional information

We wish to thank members of the western NGO recruited to facilitate the formalisation of urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, as well as representatives from urban farmers groups, the three municipalities, Dar es Salaam City Council and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bersaglio, B., Kepe, T. Farmers at the Edge: Property Formalisation and Urban Agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Urban Forum 25, 389–405 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-013-9214-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-013-9214-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation