A Proposal on the Effect of Herders and Farmers Conflict and Land Grabbing on the Attainment of Christian Religious Objective in Bokkos LGA
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
- describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study areas;
- examine the factors responsible for the conflict between crop farmers and cattle herders in the State;
- examine the effect of the conflict on the attainment of Christian religious objective in Bokko LG.A.
- identify and describe the types of conflict resolution mechanisms employed by these institutions
LITERATURE REVIEW
Ethnographic Background to Pastoralism in Nigeria
Antonio and Silvia (2009) described Pastoralists as people who live mostly in dry, remote areas. Their livelihoods depend on their intimate knowledge of the surrounding ecosystem and on the well-being of their livestock. According to them, pastoral systems take many forms and are adapted to particular natural, political and economic environment, and the key feature qualifying pastoralism is Mobility. The term nomadic is used when mobility is high and in irregular patterns; transhumant when there are regular back-and-forth movements between relatively fixed locations; and sedentary for the rest.
Pastoralists are people who derive more than 50 per cent of their incomes from livestock and livestock products. Although the livelihoods of these communities are vulnerable to climate change, shifting global markets, population growth and increased competition for land and other natural resources, pastoralism remains a viable natural resource management system, and understating its rationale, importance and dynamics is a key element in efforts to reduce poverty (Antonio and Silvia, 2009).
According to Blench (2010) the Fulbe (another name for the Fulani) and the arable farmers among whom they move, have an interdependent relationship based on the exchange of dairy products for grain, and a market for the animals that must be periodically sold to provide cash for domestic purposes, such as cloth or marriage payments. Moreover, in many regions, Fulbe management strategies depend on access to cereal crop residues -something arable farmers permit because of the perceived advantages of manure as fertilizer.
However, Blench (2010) stressed that, in no case the goods or services the pastoralist has to offer essential to the farming community, and therefore the pastoralist is obliged to remain on good terms with farmers if he wishes to continue to exploit the same locale in successive years. If Fulbe herders are unable to build up exchange relations with the farming communities, they can only survive by becoming sedentary, by flexible movement patterns that involve exploiting new arable communities every year, or by intimidation of the farmers. All of these strategies can be observed in operation in Nigeria, sometimes practiced simultaneously by different Fulbe subgroups.
The Fulani or Fulbe indisputably represent a significant component of the Nigerian economy. They constitute the major breeders of cattle, the main source of meat, the most available and cheap source of animal proteins consumed by Nigerians (Eniola, 2007). The major source of animal protein is the cattle which are in the hands of Pastoral Fulani‟s (Ajala, 2000).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research Design is a procedure of solving research problems. There are different kinds of designs such as experimental and case study (Mose and Kalton, 1971). From the list of designs, a researcher uses appropriate design to solve his/her problems. According to Nwankwo (1983), findings from survey studies have the potentials of being used as foundation for other research works. Olomolaiye (1986), sums up the importance of the survey design thus: “guiding model to be followed by the researcher and the method to be used to gather and analyse data”. The survey design will be used in the study because it will help the researcher to obtain information from a sample of respondents for the purpose of testing the hypothesis concerning the stated problem of this study.
Sampling Procedure and Sample Size
The target population for this study will be the cattle herders and crop farmers and the Christian community in Bokko L.G.A. A multi- stage sampling will be used to select the respondents of this study.
REFERENCES
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- Adamu, M. (2002). The Role of the Native Authority in the Agrarian and Pastoral Economy of Bokkos Emirate:1903-1960. An unpublished Ph.D Thesis submitted to History Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
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