Book chapter 7, pp. 125-148
Farmer-pastoralist conflicts have been reported in many parts of Africa,
often presented as being driven by resource scarcity. In Tanzania, the two
groups of resource users have for a long time found themselves in deadly
clashes, most of which resulted into loss of lives and destruction of properties.
The main resources causing the conflicts are water, land and pasture. This study
is therefore presenting an assessment of how the extent of climate change has
induced farmer-pastoralist conflicts in Kilosa District, Tanzania. A cross-
sectional research design was adopted for this study. A simple random
sampling technique was used to select wards and villages which are home to
farmers and pastoralists. A sample size of 120 respondents was drawn. Data
were mainly collected using a household survey, focus group discussion (FGD)
and interviews with key informants. The Statistical Package for Social Science
(SPSS) and excel program were used in analysing the data. The findings show
that climate change, land and water resources were the major sources of
conflicts between farmers and pastoralist’s conflict in Kilosa District. The
study concludes that there is conflict between farmers and pastoralists due to
scarce resources, particularly water, land and pasture, induced by climate
change and variability. Based on the findings, various stakeholders including
the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and communities
should identify new, and improve existing strategies for the wise use of the
natural resources among the two groups.