CAUSES, EFFECTS AND RESOLUTIONS OF LAND USE CONFLICTS AMONG HERDERS AND FARMERS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

^aADEYEMI AYOTUNDE ADEWALE (Ph.D), ^aADEDAYO F. A., ^bODEDOYIN O., ^a ADEYEYE M. O. AND ^CAJAYI O. O.

 a Department of Agricultural Education, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun

b Internal Audit Unit, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun

c Department of Christian and religious studies, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: We gratefully acknowledge Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), NIGERIA for funding this research.

ABSTRACT

The study assessed the frequency and levels of land use conflicts, analysed the causes of land use conflicts, measured the effect of land use conflict on food production, and identified land use conflicts resolution techniques in Osun, Oyo, and Ondo States with a view to examining the effects of land use conflict on food production in Southwestern Nigeria where agricultural land use conflicts have been reported in the past. A multi-stage sampling technique was used. In the first stage, three states were purposely selected based on the reported cases of land use conflicts among herders and farmers and prominence in food crop production. In the second stage, Local Government Areas with the reported cases of agricultural land use conflicts were identified and four LGAs were selected purposely based on their prominence in food crop production and reported cases of land use conflicts. a total of 720 respondents were interviewed using an interview guide with open-ended questions to obtain information about agricultural land use conflicts as well as the means of resolution, and management/mitigation techniques among the people. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Multinomial Logit and the Tobit Models. Results showed that households experienced conflicts on 80.6% of the plots at one time or the other. The farmers had conflicts over their plots with family members (11.3% of plots), pastoralists (40.4%) or other farmers (48.3%). There were more conflicts on plots during the period of years 2000-2010 (72.9%) than 1990 – 1999 (27.1%) showing an increase in the frequency of conflicts in recent years. The higher incidence of conflicts during the year 2000 – 2010 was attributed to the emergence of democratic governance that encouraged farmers to openly express their grievances. The most common cause of conflict on plots among farmers was found to be related to the type of access that farmers had to plots (62.0% of the plots) as some access types were more secure than others. Most of the conflicts were resolved through informal means (such as village heads, farmers’ meetings and family heads on 65.6% of the plots). There was lasting peace in only 58.7% of the cases reported though it was claimed that all the land use conflicts had been resolved. The land use conflicts led to disruption of income opportunities, reduced access to land resources, escalation and displacement of households, and lack of tenure security. All these had negative effects on food production abilities of the households in the study area. The study concluded that land use conflicts negatively affected food crop production within the study area. Also, majority of the conflicts were resolved by family heads and village heads and at farmers’ meeting.   

KEYWORDS: Land use conflicts, causes, effects, resolutions, herders and farmers