Effects of Farmer-Herder Conflicts on Rural Households Food Security in Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effects of farmer-herder conflicts on rural households’ food security in Gombe State, Nigeria. Primary data  were collected using structured questionnaire and focus group discussion among 118 farmers and 112 herders. Percentage, tobit and logit regression models were used in analysing the data. The result showed that, household size and education, farm size and cattle route encroachment were the major causes of the conflict. In addition, killing of stray cattle, population growth, rape and sexual  harassment were all responsible to farmer-herder conflict with different marginal effects. The study revealed 59.3% of the farmers and 31.3% of the herders, had food insecure with moderate hunger, while 43.7% of the farmers and 66.1% of the herders had food  insecurity with severe hunger. Selling of grazing areas, corrupt practices by traditional rulers are some of the constraints that affects
conflict management. There is need to create a platform that will bring all stakeholders together on a quarterly basis in order to have an interaction and to employ extension agents to serve as an intermediary between farmers and herders. There is need for the law makers to revisit the existing 1964 grazing reserves act and 1978 land tenure act so as to give room to accommodate land ownership, usage and control for the competing parties. This may help in reducing the intensity of the conflict. Finally, there is need for the adoption of some mitigating strategies such as alternative dispute resolutions, arrest and prosecution of offenders to manage the reoccurrences of conflicts.

Keywords: Farmer-herder conflicts, rural households, food security status.