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the unsustainable use of Kilosas forests, but also the ways in which forest issues aredealt with nationally, and the legal framework which governs all Tanzanian forests.With most of its population depending on agriculture, forest clearing for agricultureposes a major threat to forest resources (Kilosa District Council 2010). This is notnecessarily due to land shortage but can rather be explained by declines in soilfertility and limited use of fertilisers. The expansion of agricultural land would then,first and foremost be a mean for increased production (Shishira, Yanda et al. 1997;Kilosa District Council 2010).4.3.3. Livestock keepingKilosas Semi-arid climate and seasonally flooded plains covered by grass also offersgood conditions for livestock-keeping 22 (Maganga, Odegaard et al. 2007). A vastmajority of rural households in Kilosa are involved in both farming and livestockkeeping activities. The emphasis has however mainly been on the main productionactivities for different groups of people depending on their culture (Ibid).Kilosa is today one of the Districts in Morogoro Region with the highest livestocknumber, and according to Kilosa District Council (2010) the District containedapproximately 347.029 livestock in 2006 23 . As an attempt to minimize conflictbetween farmers and livestock keepers, the land in Kilosa has been divided betweenland suitable for grazing (483.390 ha) and land for agriculture. Within the land setaside for grazing, there are 8 settlements identified as pastoral villages – Twatwatwa,Kiduhi, Madoto, Ngaite, Mfilisi, Godes, Mabwegere, Kwambe (Shishira, Yanda et al.1997).The livestock keeping systems are mainly agro-pastoralists, and it includes bothextensive and intensive systems. The extensive system involves high mobility fromone place to another in search for water, pasture and to escape diseases. These are22 Livestock involves cattle, goats and sheep.23 An exact number is difficult to calculate since it is rare that livestock keepers give right figures oftheir animals when asked, due to, fear of tax among other reasons. Some livestock keepers also live inremote areas and migrate seasonally making them difficult to access during census.80