Climate Change, Farmer-Herders Conflicts and Food Security in Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Climate Change, Farmer-Herders Conflicts and Food Security in Nigeria

Gospel Nukoaka Lebari, Ph.D¹, Ferguson Amaobi Onuegbu, Ph.D¹ & Sunday Adeniran^2
1University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
²University of Abuja, Nigeria

ABSTRACT
There is emerging consensus that climate has been changing. This change in the global climate has shown the capacity to threaten several aspects of global, regional and national life, among which is security and agriculture (food security). Thus, in Nigeria, the climate crisis appears to have exposed farmers and herders to frequent conflicts, and because the indigenous farmers grow the locally produced food and the herders, on the other hand, rear most of the animals that serve as meat (particularly beef), any conflict between these two places food security under threat. The study sought to: examine the role of climate change on the heightened farmers-herders conflict in Nigeria; and, explore the implications of climate change impacts on farmers-herders conflicts on Nigeria’s food security. The study was guided by the eco-violence theory, which examines the inter-relationship between environmental changes and possible conflict situations. Data were derived from secondary sources that include journal articles, texts and books. The study established that climate change plays a great role in the frequent violent conflicts that have become a constant in farmer-herders relations in recent years and that these conflicts affect the country’s agricultural output and food security negatively. The study recommends that the Nigerian state should transit from traditional agricultural system to Climate-Smart Agriculture to meet future needs, as well as build modern (public) ranches with the best of technologies in the Sahel region, to discourage nomadic herding.

Keywords: Climate Change, Farmer-Herders Conflict, Eco-Violence, Food Security, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

There is an emerging consensus among scholars and international organizations that the earth’s climate has been changing. This change has shown potentials for affecting diverse aspects of human life and existence, as it exposes nations to diverse challenges, from the economy to health and security threats, which manifest in unusual, but varying ways across regions. Globally, climate change weakens food security but the impacts vary between the rich and poor countries, with the poor countries most vulnerable to its associated risks. African countries being in the tropics are known to be hot; however, they are expected to become hotter because of climate change. The livelihood options of the people are mainly farming and pastoralism, which has been significantly affected by climate change (Devereux & Edwards, 2004). Thus, in some African countries, climate change has contributed to conflicts between farmers and herders, therefore, threatening food security.
In Nigeria, climate change manifests in unpredictable rainfall in the south and desertification in the North (Uyigue & Agho, 2007). To that extent, aside from other possible implications, it has on security is the problem of the danger it poses to food security occasioned by the infamous clash between indigenous farmers and herders (prominently of the Fulani nation) who migrate from one place to another, exploring pasture for their herds. This situation tends to be on the rise because of the effects that changes in climatic conditions have on their domain, and this, of course, puts a threat to the availability and accessibility of foodstuffs. These conflicts between indigenous farmers and nomadic herders have resulted in several deaths, most of who are farmers; and this has direct implications on crop production and the Nigerian economy. Therefore, the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers have endured several years and have been heightened in recent years. Because of this and several illegal activities, herdsmen in Nigeria were classified as one of the most notorious terrorist groups operating in the world (Institute for Economics and Peace, 2016) probably because of the huge number of fatalities that have arisen from their activities.

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