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In spite of strong support from government and development partners tree planting on village land expanded slowly in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania from late 1970’s to the mid 2000’s. While forest cover has dramatically increased from 6 to 174 thousand hectare during the past decade. The tree growers involved in this timber rush on village land are resident small-scale farmers, as well as a new group of non-resident domestic investors. Resident small-scale farmers by far outnumber the non-resident domestic investors, while the domestic investors dominate in terms of area with trees planted. This new afforestation trend was in part driven by upgrading of the value chain through localization and in part by allocating village land to be bought by urban-based investors. These changes have been market driven with little involvement of state actors.
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