Insecurity in Agrarian Communities: Threats to Food Security in Nigeria in the 21st Century

Abstract

This paper examined how the herdsmen/farmers clashes across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria have grown, spread and intensified over the past decade and today poses a threat to food shortage and national survival. In the recent history of Nigeria, so many people have been killed, communities have been destroyed, and thousands of farmers and pastoralists have lost their lives and properties in the brutal and barbaric act of killings, massacre and attempt at ethnic cleansing and destruction. The evil act is not only continuously destroying livelihood but is also affecting and causing hunger, crisis, and posing challenges to agriculture, Agric-business, and small farmers, who are the drivers of the nation’s agricultural value chain. Herdsmen/farmers clash hinders government ability to provide training, chemicals and other products needed to improve crop yield. Farmers need peace and stability for them to go back to their farmlands. The study adopted the descriptive design. It drew upon primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include oral information and testimonies. Newspapers and magazines reports were also used in conjunction with official records in government publications. Secondary sources include relevant books. The researchers made use of the direct observation method. All the pieces of information so gathered were subjected to critical historical analysis.