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
CHAPTER TWO
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).
The fact that the Savannah zones of Nigeria have abundance of grasses and forages and also the absence of the deadly cattle disease called Trypanosomiasis make the zone conducive for rearing cattle (Ibrahim et al., 2014).
Cattle Herding System
Having raised livestock for centuries, the Fulani have evolved a herding system that withstands time, weather, social change, and government intervention. The movement of the Fulani over the years has led to a pastoral calendar in which the location and the grazing habits of the Fulani can be predicted (Iro, 1994).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study Area
The study was carried out in Bokko Local Government Area. Bokkos is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Bokkos at 9°18′00″N 9°00′00″E.
It has an area of 1,682 km2 and a population of 178,454 at the 2006 census. Ron languages are the indigenous languages spoken in Bokkos.
Bokkos Local Government major tribes are Ron, Kulere and Mushere. Bokkos Local Government has eight districts which are Bokkos, Muahere, Daffo, Sha, Manguna, Richard, Toff, and Kamwai. There are 20 electoral wards in Bokkos. The Paramount ruler of Bokkos is called saf Ron, he is the chairman of the Bokkos traditional council.
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 was used in the study because it helped 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 are the cattle herders and crop farmers and the Christian community in Bokko L.G.A. A multi- stage sampling was used to select the respondents of this study.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Description of Socioeconomic Characteristics of farmers and Herders in the study area
Table 4.1: Distribution of Respondents according to Socioeconomic Characteristics
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Major findings of the studies revealed that majority of the farmers are males and only very few are female. In the case of the herders, all the respondents are males. Majority of the crop farmers were within the age range of 40-49 years, while the largest percentage of the herders cut across 30-39 years. Majority of crop farmers and of cattle herders interviewed had no formal education at all. More than three quarter of both farmers and herders are married. Most of the herders keep a herd size of less than 60 cattle due to activities of cattle rustlers 12% within the range of 60-99, while only 12.7% maintain more than 100.
Result from the logit regression analysis indicates that only 3 out of 10 causal variables of farmer-herder conflict have significant relationship as factors responsible for the conflict in the study area. These are crop damage by cattle (3.165), land encroachment (2.175) and inadequate grazing reserves (3.444).
All the respondents interviewed identify traditional rulers, police and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) as major arbitrators of farmer- herder conflict, which are also more effective in handling the conflict in the study area. On methods of conflict resolution commonly employed, amicable resolution was identified as the most popular, followed by verbal warning.
Conclusion
From the result of the findings summarised in section 4.4 of chapter four, the general conclusion that comes out strongly is that ethno-religious conflicts cause hindrance to social life, loss of economic sources of livelihood and psychological trauma. Specifically, ethno religious conflicts:
- Brings about disruption of social lives of Christians and Muslims and destruction of worship
- Revealed reduction of economic resources and properties of individual families which bring about loss of
The major immediate causes of the conflict are crop damage and land encroachment. Cultivation of crops was extended into grazing reserves and cattle routes, while crops are being eaten and destroyed by cattle. This is an issue that has consistently been in the forefront of most of the farmer-herder conflicts. Each party blaming the other, but the reality is that, land has been under pressure as a result of increase in population coupled with the problem aggravated by poor land tenure administration. As such, farmers view cattle tracts and grazing reserves as lands not possessed by anyone and can therefore be freely encroached. The herder on the other hand, has the believe that feeding his cattle at whatever circumstances is a superior and uncompromising right given to him by nature. One of the major threats to peaceful coexistence according to findings from group discussion with some traditional rulers is the damage caused by the influx of Udawa and Bukoloji cattle herders, who usually comes through Niger/Nigeria border. These types of herders do not recognize the existence of any boundary in terms of their grazing and they come in hundreds and are usually fully armed with modern guns. They move with thousands of cattle sparing no farm. At the same time, a mix of weather- related factors has pushed farmers to cultivate more land each year, leaving the herders
fewer places to water and graze their stock. The resulting contests have been responsible for the deaths of several hundred Nigerians. This calls for urgent attention. It is therefore, important for government at all levels to put more machinery on ground to encourage climate change adaptation and mitigation. Also, Nigeria as a country should invest more in combating crimes and also research should be enhanced to combat desert encroachment, which in the long run may reduce the north-south movement of the herders.
The Traditional rulers played a significant role in the management of herder-farmer conflict, but the abolishing of native authority followed by the establishment of 1978 land use act that vested the authority over land to government, has limit their effort in this regard.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are suggested for proper conflict resolutions between cattle herders and the farmers:
- Formal education for both the herders and the farmers should be encouraged through sensitization using individual and mass communication with the aid of extension agents and radio programmes respectively. Also nomadic education and vocational training schools should be strengthened to perform
- There should been enhanced public information and education on the need to respect the law with regard to restricted areas such as grazing and forest
- Government at all levels should explore better involvement of indigenous resource user groups in policies relating to natural resource management and
- Survey, demarcation, beaconing and gazetting of the government owned grazing reserves and cattle routes, to reduce pressure on the already overstretched reserves.
- Indiscriminate burning of rangelands and forest reserves should be controlled through sensitization campaigns by Non-Governmental Organizations and environmentalists, while government sanctions erring
- Governments and communities should jointly cooperate to improve the security situation around the villages with a view to tackling the menace of cattle
- The National Assembly should amend the existing Land use policy so as to afford the herders a more balanced recognition in terms of land ownership, usage and control. This may encourage the herders to accept the sedentary
- Farmers and herders should form more cooperatives and associations that canrepresent their interest and enable them speak as a group. This may reduce the frequency of „jungle justice‟ by seeking redress from relevant authority whenever dispute arose.
- The option of sedentarization of the herders in order to control the frequency oftheir North-South movement should be fully explored. This can be done in collaboration with traditional rulers and the herderds‟ famous Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) which the herders have so much faith
- Increased international border patrol during the dry season in order to obtaininformation on the influx of Udawa and Bukoloji herders from the neighbouring countries especially Niger Republic. This will enable the authority to take a proactive decision on how to prevent violent confrontation.
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