Effects of farmers-pastoralists conflicts on food security in two local government areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria

This study examined the effects of farmers-pastoralists conflicts on food security in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna state, Nigeria. Multiple stage random sampling procedure was used to select 110 respondents. Primary data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Logit regression model were employed in data analysis. In addition, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approach was used to measure food security status of the respondents. Result show that 62.5% of crop farmers and 53.3% pastoralists were within the age class of 39-59 years. Also, about 37.5% crop farmers and 40.0% of pastoralists had household size of between 10 and 15 people respectively. The results further reveal that 42.5% of the crop farmers and 26.67% of the pastoralists had between 11 and 30 years of farming experience. About 32.5% crop farmers and 30.0% of the pastoralists, representing 62.5% of respondents had no formal education respectively. Lack of compensation was the most critical constraint as 34.0% of crop farmers and 30.0% of pastoralists implicated it. Factors influencing conflicts include inadequate grazing land (87%), climate change (66%) and suspicion (60%). The result of logit regression analysis shows that age (-2.17), marital status (3.15) and farm size (10.91) influenced conflicts. Also, conflicts had a positive and significant effects on food security (p<0.05). In order to minimise conflicts between crop farmers and pastoralists, the study recommends appropriate compensation and implementation of modern grazing technology by government so as to reduce frequent conflicts between farmers and pastoralists.