Tanzania Allocates TZS 38 Billion to Survey All 12,333 Villages to End Land Disputes

The Government of Tanzania has approved TZS 38 billion to survey all 12,333 villages in the country in a bid to end land disputes, with 4,873 villages surveyed to date.

The allocation was announced on 1 July 2026 at the Sokoni Mugumu grounds in Serengeti District, Mara Region, by the Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Kaspar Mmuya.

Mmuya spoke in the presence of the Prime Minister, Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba, who was on a five-day working visit to the region.

He said the Ministry submitted the plan and the funding request to Parliament following an earlier directive from the Prime Minister, after which President Samia Suluhu Hassan approved TZS 38 billion for the survey of the 12,333 villages.

Mmuya outlined the progress made so far under the current administration.

“As I speak now, Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan has in her short period managed to survey 4,873 villages, and she has directed us to survey all the remaining villages within her term,” he stated.

He added that the Ministry would work side by side with the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI), to ensure the directive is carried out in all remaining villages nationwide.

Mmuya also directed the Assistant Regional Land Commissioner for Mara and his team to coordinate and establish land clinics in every ward.

Mmuya noted that Serengeti District has 30 wards and 78 villages, and assured the district leadership that all had been included in the survey plan within the President’s five-year term.

On the significance of the exercise, Mmuya explained that the surveys addressed disputes at every level.

“Surveying these villages is the major cure for the challenge of boundaries between one village and another, but it is also the major cure for disputes over land use between individuals, between institutions, or between the government and citizens,” he said.

Village Land-Use Planning in Tanzania

Village land-use planning has long been promoted in Tanzania as the main tool for resolving land conflicts, as the process brings different stakeholders together to discuss, negotiate and agree on land use.

It is especially relevant where villages share resources such as grazing areas and water, a common source of disputes between farming and pastoralist communities, between neighbouring villages, and between villagers and investors or government institutions.

A recurring driver of these conflicts across rural Tanzania has been the absence of formal, surveyed boundaries for the majority of the country’s more than 12,000 registered villages, leaving boundaries and land rights undocumented and open to dispute.

The current government-funded push to survey all remaining villages builds on this long-standing agenda, aiming to give villages formal, legally recognised boundaries.