Sao-hill forest plantation and local communities’ livelihoods in Mufindi,1960s-2010

This study investigates the influence of Sao-Hill Forest Plantation (SHFP) on the local communities’ livelihoods from 1960s to 2010. The general objective of this study was to examine the socio-economic consequences of SHFP for the local communities. In order to achieve the objective, the study addressed three specific objectives. The first was to establish the manner in which the SHP was established and developed up to 2010. The Second was to examine the responses of the local people to the creation of the plantation; and the third was to examine the economic and social impacts of SHFP on the local communities. The study was generally qualitative, involving the use of both secondary and primary sources, including archival materials and oral testimonies gathered through field interviews. The study established that the history of Mufindi forest plantation goes back to the 1930s, when the British colonial government alienated land from the local people and established the plantation. The initial goal of the plantation was conservation, although economic interests following the increasing demand for forest products were imminent. At Tanganyika’s independence in 1961 the post-colonial government inherited the project and expanded it by grabbing more land from the neighboring communities, with the intention to use the plantation as a means of improving the economy of the country and local people’s livelihoods. However, the objective on improving local people’s livelihoods was hardly achieved, as villagers did not benefit much from the different opportunities provided by the project. The plantation even had negative effects locally, including land shortage, increase in the prices of forest products and damage to the existing road networks in Mufindi. These effects fuelled illegal harvesting of the plantation, encroachment in the plantation and burning of the forest by the local people. This study concludes that complaints from local people regarding the insufficiency of benefits accruing to them from the plantation, and unfulfilled promises by the SHFP and government, were the main drivers of negative attitudes among members of the local communities towards the plantation.