Land Use Conflict Between Farmers and Herdsmen – Implications for Agricultural and Rural Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Land is probably the most important resource needed by Man for his day-today existence. All human livelihoods and activities are directly or indirectly dependent on land at varying thresholds. But land connotes different meanings to the various user groups. For instance, builders, manufacturers, fishermen, miners, hunters and farmers have different specifications in their requirement for land for their production/services. Out of all user groups, agricultural production perhaps exhibits the highest form of sophistication in its use of land. Not only must agricultural land be capable of supplying crop-specific nutrients and water; soil temperature, structure, texture and p-h levels are inevitable requisites in the choice of land for agricultural production activities. Yet, land is a limited, somewhat scarce, resource with both artificial and natural access and usage barriers. These factors of specifications, multifarious uses of land and its limitedness have necessitated that various shades of competition for its utilization must ensue. Thus, competition for land between and within various user groups has been the bane of mankind since time immemorial. Non-agricultural user groups compete with agricultural usergroups on one hand, while there are various levels of intra-user group competition on the other. Indeed competition for land use is becoming keener and fiercer, largely due to increasing human and animal populations (Gefu and Kolawole, 2002). It has been illustrated that increasing population growth rate has continued to exert great pressure on available land resources with varying environmental and socioeconomic implications (

Efficacy of the Ekiti State Anti-grazing Law. Key Stakeholders' Perspectives

“…This obvious competition over commons has led to frequent cases of conflict, resulting in loss of human lives and valuable property (Audu, 2014; West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), 2019; Sunday Orji, 2019). Other social ills such as reprisal attacks on humans, cattle rustling, rape, theft and kidnapping, among others (Adisa, 2012;Ofuoku, 2009;Sangotegbe et al, 2015;Tonah, 2000) have been reported as secondary consequences. While the cause of the social ills may have been associated more with the transhumant pastoralist groups, their settled counterparts, many of whom have co-habited peacefully with the indigenes, are not completely insulated from resultant public rage and backlash.…”

Livelihood issues in herdsmen-farmers conflict among farming communities in Kogi State, Nigeria

“…This perception has been on since the Jihad of Sokoto caliphate and so they have been at loggerhead and hence can be engaged in conflict with slightest provocation. More broadly, other scholars report that climate change, the migration further south, growth of agro-pastoralism, expansion of farming on pastures, invasion of farmlands by cattle, assault on non-Fulani women by herders, blockage of stock routes and water points, freshwater scarcity, burning of rangelands, cattle theft, inadequate animal health care and disease control, overgrazing on fallow lands, defecation on streams and roads by cattle, extensive sedentarisation, ineffective coping strategies, ethnic stereotyping, and the breakdown of conflict intervention mechanisms are the root causes of such violence in rural areas (Ofuoku and Isife, 2009;Adekunle and Adisa, 2010;Blench, 2010;Odoh and Chigozie, 2012;Solagberu, 2012;Audu, 2013;Bello, 2013;McGregor, 2014).…”

Reviewing the links between climate change and resource conflict

“…The farmers around this region who focus on shifting cultivation and rotation of land for fallowing reasons and good output of farm inputs see the invasion of fallowing grounds and other farmlands by the herder"s cattle as direct incursion on their livelihood (Abass, 2012;Akevi, 2014;Durojaiye, 2014). Scholars (Folami 2009; Ofuoku and Isife 2009; Adekunle and Adisa 2010;Blench 2010;Odoh and Chigozie 2012;Solagberu 2012;Audu 2013Audu , 2014Bello 2013;McGregor 2014;Fabiyi and Otunuga, 2016), had identified climate changes as the root cause of farmersherdsmen conflicts over resource use in Nigeria. It was observed by Gefu and Kolawole (nd) that, while some conflicts arise between same resource group such as between one farming community and another, others occur between different user groups such as between herders and farmers or between foresters and farmers.…”

“…These literature rest on the untested assumption that the mechanism behind the temperatureconflict link is that disruption of agricultural production provokes local violence. In Nigeria, the growth of agro-pastoralism, the expansion of farming on pastures, the invasion of farmlands by cattle, assault on non-Fulani women by herders, blockage of stock routes and water points, freshwater scarcity, burning of range lands, cattle theft, inadequate animal health care and disease control, overgrazing on fallow lands, defecation on streams and roads by cattle, ethnic stereotyping, and the breakdown of conflict intervention mechanisms, these are usually identified by scholars as the root causes of farmers /herders conflicts (Folami, 2009;Ofuoku and Isife 2009;Adekunle and Adisa 2010;Blench 2010;Odohand Chigozie 2012;Solagberu 2012;Audu 2013Audu , 2014Bello 2013;McGregor 2014). In line with this, Abass (2012) contends that the major source of tensions between pastoralists and farmers is basically economic, with land related issues accounting for the majority of the conflicts.…”