Effects of communal conflicts on agricultural production indices of farmers in Benue and Nasarawa States, North-Central, Nigeria. In: Kolawole Adebayo (ed). Rural Social Protection and Interventions in Nigeria.

Abstract

The prevalence of peace and stability is an absolute prerequisite for sustainable agricultural and overall economic prosperity. The study examined the effects of communal conflicts on agricultural production indices of farmers in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers; determine types and frequency of occurrence of communal conflicts, and; examine the effect of communal conflicts on the activities of farmers in the study area. A multi stage purposive sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 391 farmers. Information was elicited using questionnaires, interview schedule and Focus Group Discussion and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The major findings showed that the dominant types of communal conflicts in the area were farmers-herders Conflicts (75.70%), land disputes (51.15%), boundary disputes (29.66%) and ethnic conflicts (26.34%) and the mean frequency of occurrence of communal conflicts in the study area in the last two years was 17.5 times. Most of the agricultural production indices of farmers like crop output (z=3.24, p= 0.001), cultivated land (z=3.92, p=0.000), fertilizer usage (z=1.75, p= 0.081), pesticide usage z=2.31, p=0.021), credit usage (z=8.18,p= 0.000) labour usage (z=2.10, p=0.037) and farm income (z=5.032, p= 0.000) were affected during occurrence of conflicts in the study area. The study recommended among others the enforcement of land control measures by the government that would tackle the causes and occurrence of communal conflicts in communities in the country.