Land is Coming Up : The Burunge of Central Tanzania and their Environments

This book presents a Burunge theory of how soils form, change and erode. Many Burunge hold that “land has life”. It is the life inherent in the soil, together with the equally life-giving rain, that causes crops to grow. Land is rising up from below in a process where different physical conditions and qualities mix. Case studies portray farmers trying out indigenous conservation techniques. When a development project introduced a new form of conservation farming, it came into conflict with local land husbandry. Previously protected parts of the Burunge Hills are now being opened up for settlement. It happens quickly and with dire consequences for the environment. During the dry years of 1991-4 the rich and the destitute became enjoined in a Dance Macabre of the land. The Burunge area is changing. This book analyses what is happening, taking land management as its lead theme.