Social Capital: A Panacea for Farmers and Herders Conflict Management in Nigeria

The study examines how social capital can be used to manage farmers’ and herders’ conflict in Nigeria. Farmers' and herders' conflict is exacerbated by climate change, disputes over land resources for farming and grazing, blocking of stock routes, and cattle rustling. The conflict has affected both the farmers' and herders' output, posing threat to household and national food security, and depletion of environmental resources. While state efforts towards mitigating the conflict have focused on the formal security networks, the study highlights the need to harness the inherent social capital within conflicting communities as avenues to managing farmers and herders’ conflict in Nigeria. This paper uses secondary data sources to examine farmers' and herders’ conflicts in Nigeria, the socioeconomic implication, and the role of social capital in managing the conflict. The study shows that social networks in conflicting communities could anticipate and dissipate conflict, given that most of the traditional conflict management approaches that are being used are flawed, hence, the persistence of the problem to escalating dimensions. The study concludes that farmers’ and herders’ conflict puts rural and national food security at risk and that the existing social structures in the communities should be considered as alternative means of managing farmers and herders conflict in Nigeria. The paper recommends that the dynamics of the social structures of conflicting groups and points of cohesion should be maximized given the implications of conflicts for the livelihoods and environmental sustainability of rural communities in Nigeria.