Page 1 of 10

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 8

Publication Date: August 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.108.15299.

Audu, C. T., & Audu, D. I.-A. (2023). Exploring The Symbiotic Economic Benefits Between Farmers and Herders to Promote Peaceful

Coexistence in Taraba State Nigeria. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(8). 228-237.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Exploring The Symbiotic Economic Benefits Between Farmers

and Herders to Promote Peaceful Coexistence in Taraba State

Nigeria

Christina Tanko Audu

Department of Science Education, Taraba State University, Jalingo

Daniel Imoken-Asi Audu

School of Science and Technology, Taraba State Polytechnic, Jalingo

ABSTRACT

This paper explored the symbiotic economic benefits between farmers and herders

in Taraba State to promote peaceful coexistence. Taraba State is one of the states in

the North East region of Nigeria that is mostly affected by farmers-herders crisis.

The paper explicated the causes of the farmers-herders crisis which include

growing population, abandonment of grazing reserve system and proliferation of

small arms and light weapons among others. Although the Federal and State

Governments have responded in several ways among which are creation of grazing

reserves in 1965, establishment of the National Commission for Nomadic Education

(NCNE) in 1989, the use of the Armed Forces to curb internal security cause by

farmers-herders crisis, proposed National Grazing Reserve Bill 2016, proposed

Cattle Ranching System 2018, legislation prohibiting open grazing and the Great

Green Wall Agency of the Federal Government. All these efforts by the Federal

Government and various State Government could not bring the desired peaceful

coexistence between farmers and herders. The crisis still lingered in Taraba State

and many other states. Therefore, the paper explored the symbiotic economic

benefits that could be enjoyed by farmers and herders leading to peaceful

coexistence. Some of the symbiotic economic benefits capable of stimulating

peaceful coexistence are; after harvesting crops on their farm, they usually allow

cattle to graze on the leftovers, during which excrement from the cows provide

manure for the farm, use of yam and cassava peels for preparation of animal feeds,

use of rice, guinea corn, maize and millet chaff for animal feeds and use of animal

waste as fertilizer. The author concluded that exploring the symbiotic economic

benefits explicated in this paper can bring about peaceful coexistence between

farmers and herders which will also result to a peaceful Taraba State. It was

suggested that government and private individuals should established ranches

within farming communities in such a manner that herders can get animal feeds

from farmers while the farmers get manure from the herders’ ranches.

Keywords: farmers, herders, crisis, peace, coexistence, symbiotic and economic benefits

Page 2 of 10

229

Audu, C. T., & Audu, D. I.-A. (2023). Exploring The Symbiotic Economic Benefits Between Farmers and Herders to Promote Peaceful Coexistence in

Taraba State Nigeria. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(8). 228-237.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.108.15299

INTRODUCTION

Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has been grappling with diverse security

challenges, chief among them is insurgency, banditry, election violence, kidnapping and most

recently, the herder-farmer conflicts among others. The North Eastern States of Taraba,

Adamawa and Kaduna, as well as North Central States of Benue, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa

among other states have experienced conflicts that led to thousands of deaths and

displacements as a result of clashes between pastoralists (herders) and local farmers in several

communities. According to Amnesty International (2018), reports indicate that in January 2018

alone about 168 people were killed as a result of herdsmen-farmers clashes. In Taraba State in

particular on 17th–20th June, 2017, several farming communities on the Manbilla Plateau of

Sarduma Local Government Area of Taraba State came under attack by armed herders and 732

people were killed. On January 30, 2018, herders living in the Leme Community, a village in the

Membilla Plateau in Taraba State were killed in a vengeance attack. The same occurred in Gareji

Village on January 17, 2018. On April 10, 2019, a similar attack took place in Dori, Mesuma, in

Gashaka Local Government of Taraba State. Also on 7th March 2022 at least 26 people, including

children and women, were feared killed and scores of others injured and hundreds of houses

were burnt and property worth millions of naira destroyed when suspected armed herders

attacked Tor-Damisa community in Donga Local government Area of Taraba State. On 6th April

2023, no fewer than eight persons were confirmed dead following attacks and counter attacks

between farmers and herders in Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba state (Nwangoro, 2023).

Various cases of conflict in Taraba State between the herders and farmers involved significant

variables in land resources. As pointed out, the livelihood of farmers and herders in Taraba

State is threatened by decreasing access to land resources. In areas of stiff competition for

grazing land and farming, the intensity of the conflict is high. Abbas (2012) stated that, in

Taraba State for example, areas mostly affected include Ibi, Bali, Wukari and Takun local

government areas among others.

Struggle over grazing land and scarce resources have over the years resulted in perennial and

growing violent conflicts in terms of frequency, intensity and geographic scope. Underpinning

the escalation in frequency of conflicts in Nigeria is a confluence of environmental and

demographic forces, especially desertification caused by climate change and population

explosion. Expectedly, with the depletion of arable land for subsistence farming largely as a

result of increasing urbanisation and the adverse effect of climate change, especially along the

Lake Chad basin, there is increased struggle between herdsmen and farmers leading to violent

confrontations and conflicts, deaths and forced displacement, as well as the destruction of

agriculture crops and livestock.

CAUSES OF FARMERS-HERDERS CONFLICT

There are different views regarding the causes of farmers-herders crisis in Nigeria. The conflict

has underlying economic and environmental reasons. It has also acquired religious and ethnic

dimensions.

Growing Population

Centuries back, many of the low-lying areas next to rivers in Nigeria were hardly used by

farmers because of some wide-range of reasons. One of such was the exposure to diseases like

river blindness and malaria. Another was the problem of erosion peculiar to these riverine

areas. These areas instead were mainly used for grazing by nomadic herders and fishermen.

Page 3 of 10

230

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 8, August-2023

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

However, the increase in Nigeria’s population led to a need for much greater use of these lands,

especially for food production. The growing population resulted to large-scale urbanization and

a growing demand for horticultural products in all regions. This spread various types of dry

season cultivation in many states and ultimately set the stage for the recurring farmers and

herders’ clashes (Abah & Petja, 2015). The farmers, usually desperate to meet the growing

demand for food items by the ever-increasing population and to feed their families took up

more of the riverbanks to farm. Doing this meant they encountered struggles with the other

users, especially the herders and even the marginal fishermen. The herders’ frustration and

hostility came mostly from finding the grazing routes and access to watering points covered by

farmers’ crops such as rice, sugar cane, groundnut, vegetables among others. This led to

misunderstanding and clashes leading to loss of many lives and properties.

Abandonment of Grazing Reserve System

The driving force of the clashes between farmers and herders is the competition for available

resources, especially grazing land. It seems that the government has abandoned the grazing

reserve system created by the Northern region government in 1965. Then, the government

created over 417 grazing reserves in the north. According to Bello (2015), under the grazing

reserve system, government provided space, water and vaccinations for the livestock while the

herdsmen paid taxes to the government in return. However, the discovery of oil and subsequent

exploration and export made Nigeria an oil economy, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.

Subsequently, the grazing reserve system was abandoned due to the neglect of the agricultural

sector as the mainstay of the country’s economy.

Consequently, grazing reserves which were under a neglected agricultural sector could not be

sustained. It received little or no attention from succeeding administrations. As a fall-back,

herdsmen began to resort back to their traditional and seasonal grazing routes which had been

interrupted or interfered with by industrialisation, urbanisation, demographic and other

natural factors (Abah and Petja, 2015). This then led to clashes and conflict with farmers and

host communities. These conflicts have been on the increase in recent times and now constitute

one of the major threats to Nigeria’s national security.

Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons

A major cause for the escalating intensity of the conflict between farmers and herders is the

increasing proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria (Ugwumba, 2018). Given

that local communities including farmers and herders in Taraba State have access to small arms

and light weapons. In Taraba State, it is very common to see herders carrying AK-47 and other

small arms while grazing their cattle. For instance, Troops of the 101 Special Forces Battalion

deployed to Taraba state on 14th May 2018 nabbed four suspected armed herdsmen caught

grazing their cows on a farmland in Suntai Daji village of Donga Local Government Area of

Taraba State, one AK-47 rifle with 30 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition were recovered

from the suspects.

Justifying this action, Olubajo (2021) stated that the Fulani herdsmen were exposed to the

dangers of the forests, orchestrated by animals and cattle rustlers who rob them of their cows

and kill them, adding that a herdsman has no option than to defend himself because the society

and the government are not protecting him. Similarly, farming communities do taxed

themselves to raise fund in order to buy arms to defend their communities in case of attack by