ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Resour. Manag.
Sec. Safe and Just Resource Management
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsrma.2025.1650915
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Social Impact of Land and Knowledge: Transformation of Land Distribution, Utilization, and Knowledge in Post-colonial Southern AfricaView all articles
Conflicting Interests over natural resource use: The case of interactions among livestock keepers, farmers, and wildlife at Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
Provisionally accepted
Liliane Binego1,2*
Sayuni B Mariki3- 1Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
- 2Coventry University Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience, Coventry, United Kingdom
- 3Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
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Conflicts over natural resources use among farmers, livestock keepers, and wildlife are escalating in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania, posing significant threats to livelihoods, security, and sustainable development. This study investigated the types, drivers and impacts of these conflicts using a mix-methods approach, including questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, and focused group discussions. Descriptive statistics and content analysis revealed 16 distinct conflict types, with the most prevalent being crop raiding by livestock before harvest (farmers-pastoralist conflict) and disputes over farm boundaries (farmer-farmer conflict). Key drivers of conflicts varied between groups but commonly included an increasing number of livestock, inadequate supervision of herders, and seasonal flooding of grazing lands. The primary consequences identified were reduced crop yields, social tension, and emotional distress. To mitigate these conflicts, the study recommends enforcing adherence to village land use plans, promoting coexistence through community education, providing appropriate training in livestock management and good practice, and regulating livestock influx into the area.
Keywords: Kilombero Valley, Farmer-pastoralist interactions, Livestock management, Land useplanning, Natural resource conflicts, sustainable resource use
Received: 20 Jun 2025; Accepted: 20 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Binego and Mariki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Liliane Binego, ab9819@coventry.ac.uk
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