Socio – economic impact of pastoral activities in Olorunsogo Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Pastoral activities contribute positively to the local economy of the community where they exist, although such activities come with some inherent challenges. This study was aimed at determining the various contributions of pastoralism in Olorunsogo Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo state, Nigeria. A total of 140 interview schedules were used to elicit information from the respondents: for crop farmers, 100 schedules were used, 20 for pastoralists and 10 each for community leaders and law enforcement agents. A multi stage sampling of the crop farmers was adopted. In the first stage, the study area was divided into five zones while the second stage had each zone divided into four quarters. In the third stage, five interview schedules were administered in each quarter. Also, purposive and random sampling of the pastoralists, community leaders and law enforcement agents was conducted. The data obtained were processed and subjected to descriptive statistics using frequency count and simple percentage. The results obtained showed that crop destruction (20.79 %), water source pollution (18.31%) and theft (12.38%) were major problems the crop farmers encountered from pastoral activities while pastoralists experienced cattle theft (65%) and livestock poisoning (35%) from actions of crop farmers. Also, crop farmers and pastoralists (32.19, 51.28) % respectively indicated provision of grazing reserves by government as a prevention strategy to the problem. Majority of the crop farmers (34.07%) and pastoralists (53.33%) respectively stated that destruction of property and animosity with their crop farmer neighbours as the major effects of the conflicts. Concerning the resolution strategies, 29.66% of the crop farmers reported to law enforcement agents while 41.46% of the pastoralists indicated payment of compensation to the victims. Also, provision of grazing reserves by government was suggested as a prevention strategy to the problem by crop farmers and pastoralists (32.19, 51.28) % respectively.

Keywords: crop farmers, pastoralists, conflict prevention, conflict resolution