The search for an understanding of the changing patterns, and the quest for sustainable solutions to conflicts between farmers and herders in Nigeria, formed the crux of a multi-stakeholders meeting, which held in Abuja recently. Convened by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) with support from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the discourse afforded yet another opportunity for peace building practitioners, scholars, the media, security agencies and grassroots organizations to reflect on the emerging trends in the conflict. Some talk-weary participants prefaced their contributions with the call that the dialogue should not end at the stage of discussions, but that the outcomes of all such conversations should be robustly implemented to solve the problem.
One very early point of agreement amongst the experts in the room was the perspective that the conflict between herders and farmers has mutated significantly in recent years. There was a convergence of opinion that beyond the original causes and effects many more factors and interests have shaped the evolution of the conflict. It was stated that beyond the original causative factors, such as climate change, loss of soil nutrients, and desert encroachment, which have all intensified the contest for resources, other extraneous influences have modified the patterns, actors and impacts of the conflict.
According to the discussants, prevalence of the external influences, driven by interests which are largely political, ethnic, and religious, have conflated an understanding of the real issues around the farmers-herders problem. The preponderance of these extraneous influences, the experts contend has made the conflict have made it difficult address. Providing a historical perspective of the evolution of the conflict one of the panelists, Dr. Nathaniel Danjibo who is the President of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice drew attention to the symbiosis, which used to define the relationship between farmers and herders. He reminisced that in the past, farmers and herders used to have a symbiotic relationship involving very mutually beneficial exchanges. Farmers got milk and manure from herders, while the former provided herders with fodder from which their animals could graze.
The peace advocate noted that even when disputes came up in those good old days, there were very effective traditional conflict resolution methods, which were deployed to ensure there was justice, fairness and in the end, peaceful co-existence. Danjibo said that the transformation in the modes of agricultural practices, the way it is today, has upended the basis for such symbiosis in the relationship between farmers and herders. The panelist stressed that these fundamental changes in society’s structures due to modernisation, have also translated into the weakening of traditional authorities, and the abandoning of time-tested techniques, which were deployed to resolve disputes. He said: “Due to many reasons, the farmers herders’ conflict is now like the HIV virus; I say so because at every second, while you are trying to treat one aspect, it changes into a different sickness. This is precisely what we have with this conflict because politicians, ethnic champions and religious bigots have come into it.”
He continued: “ We need to address this problem because all of us depend 100 percent on both the crop farmer and the herder; why should a cow in California be able to produce 20 liters of milk, and our own cows here in Nigeria will be struggling to produce one liter because it has trekked from Maiduguri to Ibadan. These are things we need to put on the table so that we are able to bring about the solution. But if a solution is provided and some people are bringing in ethnic and regional sentiments to it, it then means we are not ready to find a solution.”
In her contribution, CDD fellow, Dr. Dayo Kusa observed that one of the gaps in the quest for solution to the farmer herders’ crisis was the lack of synergy among the many voices discussing the ways to resolve the conflict. She said the lack of synergy was equally apparent in the different versions of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), which are in circulation. She called for an end to ethnic profiling, which she noted made it difficult for stakeholders to identify and address the real issues in the conflict. The panelist similarly urged that the gender dimensions of the farmer herders crisis she should be properly analyzed so that solutions which are eventually designed would leave no one behind.
On the roles of the farmer and the herder in a transiting Nigerian economy, which would have to increasingly depend on agriculture as its mainstay, President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim called on all sides of the conflict to learn to live together.
He said: “Today in Nigeria, we turning to agriculture as the mainstay of the economy; it is now necessary for us to look at our relationships and try to accommodate each other. It is also important for governance to take cognizance of the fact that both the farmers and herders contribute to the economy in the sense of providing livelihoods. We also need to understand that we must give everybody their due; if any group feels they are shortchanged, there will be actions which will not necessarily be desirable. To tell you the fact, the herders feel there are not well taken care of by the government. And that is why a number of them are doing what they are doing.
“That does not mean that we do not have peace in so many other areas. The synergistic relationship between farmers and herders that had existed in pre-colonial times, is still there. We still call the herders to come to our farmlands to drop their dung manure for us to produce crops. We also use their produce such as milk for our well being. This synergy is there, but many other things have cropped up; for instance, we have encroached on the pathways of the herders, and we have deprived them of their grazing land.”Ibrahim also stressed that the way forward in resolving the farmer herders crisis would be to put together all findings of government committees and stakeholders dialogues, and then come up with the modus operandi to tackle the issue.
“We should not leave this to government because most of the players in government have their own idiosyncrasies. So we must realise that it is very important for us to have peace; both the livestock herder and the farmers are brothers, and they should have a symbiotic relationship, and they should live together; the Nigeria Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) is making that effort, and we are deeply involved.”
Another consensus, which was arrived at in the course of the dialogue was the role, which the media is playing in further exacerbating the conflict. Panelists were of the view that for too long, the media had been projecting the wrong narratives, because of the lack of understanding of the real issues underlining the conflict, and the current patterns of its mutations. An action point was therefore canvassed on the need to equip the media with the capacity to report issues around the farmer-herders conflicts dispassionately, through structured training. Panelists further pointed out that there were a number of good examples where farmers and herders co-existed peacefully without problems. They therefore underscored the importance of bringing those examples of good relations to the for, and not paint the picture that everywhere across the country, farmers and herders are solely involved in clashes.
