Farmers-Herders Clashes in Agatu, Logo and Guma Local Government Areas of Benue State: Analysing its Implication on Food Production

This work was an inquiry into the implication of farmers-herders conflict on agricultural activities in Logo, Agatu and Guma local government areas of Benue state. The main objective of the study was to highlight the consequences of famers-herders conflict on agricultural production in the selected local government areas. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to first divide the local governments into clusters in the first stage, and in the second stage, stratified sampling technique was used to draw the list of all the communities to be studied within the council wards and communities, while simple random sampling was used to select respondents for study in the last stage. Consequently, questionnaires were used as instrument of data collection to survey the opinions of 415 respondents across communities in the three local government areas. The findings of the study revealed that farmers-herders conflict has become a very challenging issue for farmers in Benue state and has impacted negatively on food production. Also that the clashes begin in form of attacks on famer lands and on cattle. Similarly, the study revealed that during the crises, houses are destroyed and communities are displacing dislocating farmers from engaging in serious farming. The study thus concludes that the destruction and displacement of farmers and threat of attack by herders negatively affect agricultural production in Benue state and other agro-business activities. The study calls for more involvement of traditional rulers to manage the conflict, similarly, it is also recommended that law enforcement officers be stationed in affected communities to protect lives and properties; amplifying the call for community policing. Also, the study suggests that the law against open grazing should be modified to serve the purpose of peace and should be respected by all.