Reinterpretation of the “farmer – herder” conflict in Nigeria
• Between 2009 and 2011, there were frequent reports of armed robberies and kidnappings, mainly of women, in some parts of the Northern States, especially in the Northwest, Northeast and some parts of the North Central states. • What was seen as isolated crimes have morphed into a major national security concern, which the affected communities, the states and the federal government are still trying to grapple with. • Unfortunately, this situation has been misrepresented by the media and politicized by vested interests. • This has distorted the reality of the situation. • This presentation will try to offer an alternative explanation to this serious security situation. • Essentially this presentation is a reinterpretation of what has largely been presented as farmer herder conflict. • Definition • Transhumance is a pastoral method of animal husbandry involving the seasonal transfer of herds and flocks along welldefined routes, repeated each year. The word comes from the Latin trans, meaning across or over, and humus, meaning ground or soil. In some places this practice can pose serious problems. • Transhumant pastoralism, which is the major practice Nigeria is defined as the regular movement of herds between fixed points to exploit seasonal availability of pastures. It involves moving part or all of the herd in search of pasture. As the dry season becomes more severe in the North, pastoralists move further southwards . • Nigeria has an estimated 19.7 million Cattle, making it the biggest consumer of meat in the ECOWAS, with Lagos as the largest livestock market. • Over 30% of the meat consumed in Nigeria comes from our neighbouring countries. • Nigerians have come to take meat availability in their local markets for granted without having to bother on the production challenges and sacrifice of the primary producers. • Despite the import prohibition of beef and the Boko Haram insurgency and its challenges in the North Eastern zone of Nigeria which, has the largest livestock population, Nigeria has not experienced shortage or dramatic increase in price of beef. • A kilo of beef cost between N1000 and N1200. • We owe this to transhumant pastoralism with its low production costs. • Pastoralists contribute immensely to the rural economy – they support their households and supply meat and milk to rural dwellers at even cheaper prices. • Pastoralists also create employment opportunities in the downstream sectors of transportation, abattoirs, suya spots etc. • Nigeria has a land mass of 98.3 million hectares. • 82 million hectares of arable land • About 34 million hectares are currently under cultivation. • Cattle utilize grasses on fallow lands, non arable poor quality lands, open ranges and fringes of fadama unlike our crop farmers, who have relatively better access. • In order to access these opportunities, cattle have to move to these locations. • Generally the herds live in a disequilibrium environment, where pasture has become scarce, and move toward areas that still appear to have abundant pasture. • In this context, transhumance in West Africa may be considered as a form of adaptation to these environments, making good use of the ecological complementarity between the Sahelian and the Sudanian zones. • Successive governments have over the years developed grazing reserves and demarcated interconnecting stock routes that have been in existence for a very longtime. • Pastoralists also need farm residue for their cattle. In order to have access to it they usually negotiate with farmers. • Where disagreement arises – encroachment of farms into stock routes or encroachment of cattle on farms there are time tested mechanisms for dealing with them. • Unfortunately these time tested mechanisms have come under serious stress and in some cases have completely broken down. • Pastoralism is therefore facing serious challenges as the recent unfortunate development in Nigeria have shown. • What are these challenges? • Increase in population. • It has led to demand for more land for arable farming. • Ironically it also led to increase in demand for meat expected to be supplied by the pastoralists. • One index of economic development is the amount of meat consumed per person • Economic development comes with increase in the demand for cheaper meat, milk and other dairy products. • Urbanisation • Led to increase in infrastructure and industrial development and therefore the need for land. • The growth of food processing and other industries and the urban population had also increased the demand for food processed from of animal products which in turn stimulates the expansion of animal production. • Rising xenophobia • Xenophobia maybe arising from land-use conflicts, politics and long held prejudices. • Opinions differ as to the cause of this “sudden” outbreak of conflict and prevalence of insecurity in this parts of Nigeria • Deterioration of inter-group relations • Many attribute outbreak of conflicts to deterioration of inter-group relations between herders and sedentary farmers i.e. Fulani and Hausa ethnic groups in some parts of Nigeria, and in other parts between Fulani and non Hausa and non Fulani ethnic groups. • Manipulation of Differences • Others see the outbreak of these conflicts as the consequences of the manipulation of differences by politicians and other vested interests. • Our research findings point to some factors often ignored in the attempt to explain the current security challenges • As earlier pointed out between 2009 and 2011 armed robbery and other crimes became frequent in the northwest. • In Zamfara state, it was characterized by the criminal activities of Yan gungume. This group of criminals had a field day in the young state with poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure making law enforcement very difficult. • Several cases of armed robbery occurred in areas like Zurmi - Kuara Na Moda, Kaura Na Moda - Shinkafi, GusauKasuwar Daji, Dan Gulmi –Magami, Magami Dansadau, Bakura - Talata Mafara etc • The perceived failure of the local and state authorities to arrest the situation led members of the communities in those areas to resort to self-help on law enforcement. • The existing recognised vigilante groups, became very active. • Later another self-appointed groups but not recognised by the state known as Yan sa kai emerged in the hot- spot of the conflicts in different parts of Zamfara • Note also that the Northwest is known for its high poverty rate and high population of the unemployed, vulnerable to crime. • This inadequate law enforcement infrastructure led to the emergence help – groups – the vigilante or Yan Banga, who took it upon themselves to search for robbery suspects after every armed robbery operation . • This took them to villages and Fulani settlements or hamlets, where they often made indiscriminate arrests. Lives were occasionally lost. In some cases cattle too. • The prolonged informalisation of law enforcement led to the deterioration of the security situation and its transformation into what has come to be wrongly seen as herders – farmer conflict. • As has been observed indiscriminate violence begets violence. Thus in reaction to this indiscriminate violence the alleged Fulani victims organised themselves to seek revenge. • Although the conflict has many immediate and remote causes, however, some major forces seem to be responsible for its eruption and intensification after 2011. • One major factor was the decision of the Zamfara state government to clear large forests and cattle grazing reserves in its part of the Kuyanbana forest and Gidan Jaja areas of Maru and Zurmi local governments for farming. • The policy resulted in the dislocation of an estimated many Fulani hamlets between Dansadau area and Maradun - Zurmi axes. • The Fulani hamlets in these areas have existed for over 500 years. It is interesting to note that the Maradun area is famous for its position as the middle of Zamfara. • Long before this policy of evicting pastoralists from their ancestral lands, injustices contrived by corrupt district heads in collaboration with farmers, corrupt police and corrupt judges had subjected the Fulani cattle herders in these areas to serial extortions. • Over the years these created an groups of dispossessed Fulani of dubious economic identities. • These marginalized Fulani became suspects and ready scapegoats once a crime is committed. • This delicate situation, is compounded by the absence of basic transport and communication infrastructure in the conflict areas, where the presence of the state is extremely minimal. • As the conflict intensified, neutral groups among the Fulani became the targets of attack by the Fulani bandits, in attempts to recruit them forcefully into the cause. • They also were viewed with suspicion by the Hausa community. • In some cases these neutral Fulani were also occasionally attacked by the vigilante groups. • The conflict has had serious negative impact on economic activities in the area with attendant consequences on the livelihoods of embittered social and
the communities as shown above. • Mass migration of pastoralists fleeing the conflict has led to the disappearance of livestock markets especially for cattle in some areas. • The District Head of Dan Gulbi, informed us that an estimated 500 heads of cattle were normally sold on market days before the conflict. However, with the escalation of the conflict not a single cow is brought to the market. • Indeed, over 90% of the pastoralists have deserted the area for dear life. • Many have lost their cattle to the conflict .•For example, Sabon Gari Bala, the District Head of Madada lost 300 cows • The District Head of Dan Gulbi, Alhaji Shehu Garaci lost 98 cows. • Ardo Buda, Sarkin Fulanin Dan Gulbi, lost 150 cows and 50 sheep. • One of the leaders of the bandits, Buharin Daji, sent a letter to all the District Heads in Dansadau area, orderingthem to warn farmers in their communities to stay away from their farms or risk being shot. • Those who defied the “order” of the bandits and went to their farms were promptly shot. This was the case in Dan Gulbi where 15 farmers who defied the bandits were killed in cold blood. • In Dansadau District, the total farm land cultivated before the conflict were 179; however, during the conflict it seems that about 81 farms were abandoned, representing a 56% loss in farms cultivated by the respondents. • Many farmers appear to have been displaced, an estimated 40% of the rural dwellers, most of them farmers, might have fled the area. Many have been forced to stay away from their farms because of the threats to their lives issued by the leaders of the bandits (CEDDERT Report 2016). With the reduction of available cultivated farm lands, farm labour has dropped by 85%due to the unrest. Bets are on 250% growth in the demand for products from animal farming in the Sahel and West Africa by 2025, mainly under the influence of urban population growth, notably in coastal countries. • Emphasis has been on direct services and benefits that pastoralism provides to national wealth • BUT • Pastoralism has a stabilizing effect on societies that live in marginal, sometimes hostile zones and is therefore a source of peace and security. • It is also a social asset because it is rich in important know-how that is spread within society and along transhumance routes. • Pastoralism is also one of the production systems with the most diverse environmental benefits. • Presidential Committee on Livestock Development estimated in 2003, that Nigeria’s livestock population was about 15 million cattle, 28.69 million sheep, 45.26 million goats, 5.25 pigs with more than 1 million traction animals like horses, camels, donkeys. • In 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that Nigeria has a livestock population of about 19 million cattle, 38 million sheep and 67 million goats. • 90% of our cattle and by-products comes from pastoralists and contributes between 67% of GDP. • Agriculture overall contributes up to 23% to the national GDP. • Despite the rising demand for meat and other livestock by-products, a combination of several factors have been militating against the wholesome development of the sector since the early 1970s. • Thus has become even worse with the conflict. • These factors include crop-biased policies, conflicts with crop producers, livestock diseases, poor veterinary service delivery and input supply, and of recent, cattle rustling and theft. • Further poor production methods, poor infrastructural development, poor regulatory frameworks, lack of financial and riskmanagement support, all militate against the development of the sector. Conflicts between livestock breeders particularly transhumant pastoralists and sedentary/ migrant farmers are now becoming rampant in West Africa threatening the peace and stability of our countries. • The average household affected by farmerpastoralist conflict would experience at least a 64% - and potentially 210% or higher - increase in income, if these conflicts were reduced to near zero ( MercyCorps Memo for Policy Makers | July, 2015 ). • From the evidence- based research presented in this paper it is clear that there are more factors responsible for the current security challenges, which are not properly understood or deliberately ignored: • These factors include • high rate of unemployment and poverty • Inadequate transport and communication infrastructure, • Social amenities and services • Poor law-enforcement, • Corruption in high and low places • The manipulation of ethnicity and religion by politicians and other unscrupulous elements. Recommendations • Role of Government • Government should take the lead in finding sustainable solutions and intensify efforts in economic recovery • State governments need to be proactive in taking decisions which have implications for security, in terms of land allocations, grazing areas etc • Urgent need to restore and demarcate cattle paths and grazing reserves • Need to restore complete security of lives and property • Provide physical and social infrastructure in conflict areas as part of peace building initiatives • Conflict prevention to be put in place to forestall reoccurrence of the conflict • Need for the resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons • Need for more dialogue and cooperation among communities • Government should organize reconciliation initiatives as a way of bringing peace and stability to the communities. • Engage with farmers and pastoralists in affected areas to promote better understanding and reconciliation • Conduct granular studies at various communities in conflict areas in order to better understand the peculiarities of the conflict • Regularly engage with stakeholders • Engage with farmers and pastoralists in affected areas to promote better understanding and reconciliation • Conduct granular studies at various communities in conflict areas in order to better understand the peculiarities of the conflict • Regularly engage with stakeholders
Role of Media • Partnering with advocacy groups to conduct investigative and balanced journalism. • Improve understanding on how to report conflicts – report on issues rather than inflaming sentiments through opinions • Liaise with Research Organisations for evidence based information for content based journalism.