Assessment of factors responsible for farmers-herders conflict in Benue state north central, Nigeria

Beyond the aggravating effects of climate change on both sedentary agrarian farming communities and the pastoral herders, are other man made factors, which could be seen in the persistent occurrence of farmers-herders conflicts in Benue State and across various parts of Nigeria, thus a clog in the wheel of progress to national development and cohesion. It was against this background that this study engaged conflict theory to examine the factors responsible for farmers-herders conflict in Benue State. The study employed Taro Yamane sampling technique on administered five-Likert scale questionnaire. Findings from study on the factors responsible for farmers-herders conflict reveals that encroachment on farm lands and crop destruction by cattle stands at (71.1%), Unemployment and poverty (62.9%),Communication barrier/Mutual distrust (64.2%), inadequate grazing reserves/Blockage of grazing routes (68.4%,), Raping/Kidnapping of women (59.4%), Land ownership tussle/ Indigenization (51.6%), Cattle rustling/Theft (26.6%) and Contamination of river bodies by cattle (71.9%). The deduction therefore is that majority of the respondents emphatically agreed with all the factors mentioned above as the major causes of the conflict in Benue and Nigeria in general. However, the opinions of most respondents out rightly rejected cattle rustling as a major cause of the conflict in the study area. The study recommends that the establishment of modern functional cattle ranches will significantly address the issues of grazing routes blockage and encroachment on farm lands/crop destruction which will drastically reduce or completely eliminate farmers-herders conflict in Nigeria. This study also recommends the urgent implementation of the National Young Farmers Scheme’ aimed engaging modern methods of farming by engaging 1,000 farmers from each of the 774 Local Government. That Federal government should evolve genuine and workable national strategies of disarming the armed killer herdsmen parading farming communities in Benue with sophisticated weapons of Ak47 to commit carnage, and rape against farming communities.