FARMERS have issued policy proposals aimed to address the main land-related challenges faced by small scale farmers across the nation.

The recommendations were reached after a two days National Land Rights Dialogue for Sustainable Production, held in Dodoma and brought together farmers from different parts of the country and government officials to discuss the challenges.

They argued that land-related issues continue to be a major challenge, especially for small farmers who depend on it for crop production, livestock and other economic activities.

The meeting was organized by the Tanzania Federation of Small Farmers Associations (SHIWAKUTA), a member organization of smallholder farmers in the country.

Reading the statement at the end of the meeting, SHIWAKUTA’s Policy and Advocacy Officer, Thomas Laizer, said the proposals aim to address the main land-related challenges faced by smallholder farmers and the need for improvement.

He argued that small farmers often lack security of land ownership, making them vulnerable to eviction, land confiscation, and acquisition and response to land disputes.

“Without formal title or legal recognition, farmers have little incentive to invest in land improvement or establish sustainable land use practices” he said, calling on the government to ensure they get documents.

On land damage, he noted that unsustainable farming practices, deforestation, and arbitrary farming have led to widespread land degradation in many areas, leading to a decline in soil fertility and a decline in agricultural and livestock production.

Degraded land also exacerbates the effects of climate change, such as soil erosion, flooding, and drought, which reduces the size of productive lands and affects smallholder farmers in the country.

Laizer explained that despite their important contribution to agriculture, women often face significant barriers to land acquisition and land ownership.

The participants pointed at practices of gender-biased land ownership, a law that does not discriminate against women's land ownership rights, and traditional practices prevent women from acquiring and owning land, limiting agricultural production and denying women the opportunity to participate in decision-making and land use.

They noted that in many rural areas, there are land disputes between different stakeholders such as farmers, ranchers, and investors, leading to a significant increase in land use disputes.

“These conflicts not only endanger agricultural activities, but also threaten peace, social cohesion and social stability”, reads their statement.

In their recommendations, the association noted that to promote sustainable agricultural production, governments and policymakers should focus on strengthening land tenure security for smallholder farmers.

They said the land is part of the constitution and should be made in chapter one of the constitution as proposed in the Land Policy 1995, formalizing customary land rights through registration and title issuing programmes and establishing community land management systems to manage shared resources and resolve disputes.

The meeting also called on the government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, to oversee the implementation of the Act No. 5 of 2009, not to divide the land of villages into wildlife reserves.

There should be national land rights debates regularly to identify challenges and to strategize land dispute resolution and the government in collaboration with development stakeholders should increase the power to provide education to the community on land laws and policies.

Swagile Msananga, Assistant Commissioner of Land in the Ministry of Lands of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, noted that the meeting had good intention of helping farmers, saying the government would work on the recommendations.