The total usable land available was 14,642,284 ha of which 14,516,893 (99.1%) are located in the Mainland and 125,391 ha (0.9%) are located in Zanzibar. In all regions of the Mainland and Zanzibar, land utilization was above 70%. However, in Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Pwani, Shinyanga and Zanzibar, 90% or more of the land was utilized. Generally, land utilization per household has remained constant at an average of 2 ha in 2002/03 and 2007/08 Agriculture Sample Census. However, large variations existed between regions whereby in regions where land scarcity is less acute such as Shinyanga, Singida, and Tabora, the total utilizable land remained slightly above the 2002/03 national average. In all the regions, there was an attempt to utilize almost the entire usable land available as the majority of them maintained a land utilization rate of between 80 and 100%

Most of the land (66%) was planted with annual crops while permanent or perennial crops occupied 15% and about 8% was planted with a mixture of annual and permanent crops. The remaining area (11%) was kept under fallow. Land sufficiency varied largerly between regions. For example, in Mtwara, Lindi, Ruvuma and Tabora regions, at least 50 percent of the households reported land sufficiency while all other regions reported land sufficiency below 50 percent. In the latter group, land scarcity was most acute in Mara, Manyara, Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions where 80 percent or more of the households reported of land insufficiency.

Nationwide, maize was the priority crop of choice for an overwhelming majority (5,107,264) of households across seasons followed by beans, paddy, groundnuts, sorghum and sweet potatoes, in that order, each engaging at least 500,000 households.

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