Impact of Herdsmen Insurgencies on Food Stuff Supply and Sustainability in Nigeria

The study examined the impacts of herdsmen insurgencies on food stuff supply and sustainability in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: (i) investigate the major cause(s) of herdsmen attack on farmers in some parts of the country; (ii) examine the extent to which herdsmen attack affects the farmers, market women, individual and the economy of the country, (iii) examine the major factors responsible for herdsmen /farmers conflicts and (iv) investigate the extent in which the impart of herdsmen/farmers conflicts affects farmer’s savings. The methodology was through direct participation, structured questionnaire and focus group discussion. Those that were interviewed include: farmers, drivers, market women and individual through purposive sampling technique. A total of 300 copies of questionnaire were administered but 285 were found usable for this study. The analyses were both descriptive and inferential. Findings show that causes of herdsmen/farmers conflict have 35.8% (0.358) explanation on food supply and sustainability in Nigeria. The f-statistic value 20.772 with p-value 0.000 implied that crop damage by cattle encroachment; pollution of water points by cattle; domineering nature of the herdsmen; poor government policies; cattle rustling; affects food supply in Nigeria. The study however recommended that Governments should promulgate legislations outlawing open grazing of cattle while encouraging herders to establish ranches for their cattle, Government should also fish out the herdsmen sponsors who procure them with guns and other ammunitions to be carrying about and prosecute them and finally, State governments should designate some areas as grazing fields for the nomadic herdsmen and make them pay tax to the state, whilst warning that any crime involving a Fulani herdsman would attract severe penalties. This will drastically curb their excesses