Over 300 villagers in Kilolo get customary land titles

Land Rights Research and Resources Institute (LRRRI), an organization that deals with land issues in the country, has issued 350 certificates of customary right of occupancy (CCROs) to residents of Lyamko village in Kilolo district, Iringa region, after their farms were demarcated.

Land officer Elinaza Kiswaga, briefing the residents about land rights, governance and climate change project yesterday, said that Lyamko was the eighth village in Kilolo district to have been issued with CCROs since the commencement of the project in 2013.

Kiswaga said the research institute started working on a baseline research in 2012, and in early 2013 it collaborated with Kilolo district council to train people on land rights, governance and climate change in rural areas.

He said the project aimed to create awareness to the communities about the Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999, rural governance and climate change, especially for small producers.

“The project has so far offered training on the Village Land Act, village administration and on climate change in 55 villages,” he said.

He mentioned some of the villages as including Kihesamgagao, Kidabaga, Kiwalamo, Kitelewasi, Kipaduka, Uhambingeto, Lugalo, Lyamko, Ibofwe, Itonya and Ilamba.

Kilolo District Council Vice-Chairman Mejuzi Mgeveke appreciated the instutute’s initiatives, saying the project had helped many people in villages to own land.

Mgeveke said the residents now understood the importance of land, good governance as well as climate change.

He said the project would also help to reduce land conflicts in the area as the majority of the villagers would not have their demarcated farms encroached on.

Lyamko villagers, for their part, said they were happy that their farms had been surveyed and given the customary title deeds, adding that this would help reduce land disputes in the village.

They said land tenure rights for women were recognized and were now being implemented in practice.

HakiArdhi CEO, Yefred Myenzi, said 11 villages in the district have had their lands surveyed, thus reducing land disputes.

HakoArdhi Institute has managed to reach 55 villages out of 106 villages of Kilolo district and still is a great awareness for villagers in the district who wanted their fields surveyed.

For example, in the Lyamko village they had planned to survey 350 farms but more villagers turned out, forcing the number to jump to 351 people. SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY