Assessment of Farmers-Herders Conflict in Nigeria : Open Grazing a Ticking Time Bomb

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine Farmers and herders conflict in Nigeria and justification for open grazing system and the effects on Sustainable Development in Nigeria. The system has, in the last few years brought herders and crop farmers into direct conflicts over grazing resources (most times resulting in deaths and wanton destruction of valuables) The conflits appear to be costing the Country a lot of precious man-hour both in terms of abandonment of farming activities and deaths and is also leading to food shortages, environmental degradation and division among the peoples of the Country. The broad objective of the study therefore is to examine the effects of Open Grazing System on Sustainable Development of Nigeria with particular insight into how it affects food security, economic development, our environment and national integration. The Researchers used the quasi-survey method, comprising of the questionnaire, focus group discussion and content analysis to carry out the study. At the end, it was found out that open grazing system is detrimental to food security, that steady economic development in the country will be hampered if time and resources needed for gainful economic activities are wasted in unnecessary hostilities, that open grazing around physical infrastructure like schools, hospital, highways and on natural vegetation results in environmental degradation and lastly that the foundation of the Country’s continued existence as a nation is in serious jeopardy as acrimony pervades the land. The study recommended among others, a ban on open animal grazing and to replace it with ranching system as obtains in advanced societies, a proper implementation of the grazing reserve and stock router policy of the 1960s.