Paper short abstract:

Since 2009, the Kilombero Valley is conceived as a cluster of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). Nevertheless The understanding of colonial and postcolonial memories of local inhabitants allows appreciating their reception of contemporary large-scale development plans.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2009, the Kilombero Valley is conceived as one of the seven clusters of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and perceived as the "country breadbasket". Nevertheless, this attractiveness and imaginary around the fertility and the availability of water for large-scale development projects in the valley were already at the heart of colonial strategies. This contribution will bring an analysis of the consequences of major development projects from colonial era up to nowadays on the reconfigurations of social systems and local populations' resource governance systems.

The Kilombero Valley was at the heart of international economy before the German colonisation, through the slave trade routes, the ivory and rubber trade. Analysing each period of the History since the 1860s allows understanding the continuities and discontinuities in the means of controlling the resources and local populations, in particular through resettlement schemes, taxation, forced farming and large-scale plantations implementation. In the valley, the resulting evictions and mobility have shaped the valley, creating new villages in the increasingly narrow interstices between parks and industrial plantations. Plans to relocate or concentrate people in villages began under German colonial rule and were reinforced during British colonization, and continued in a different ways during the Ujamaa period. The first large plan for railways and industrial plantations began during the German colonization and several hydrological and geographical surveys were carried out after the First World War by the British. The understanding of the memory of local inhabitants allows appreciating their reception of contemporary large-scale development plans.