ANALYSIS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CAUSES OF FARMERS/PASTORALISTS CONFLICT IN IBADAN/IBARAPA AGRICULTURAL ZONE OF OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the socio-economic causes of farmers/pastoralist conflict in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 145 farmers and 87 pastoralists from the study area. Data were collected using questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that the mean age of farmers was 49 years while that of the pastoralists was 54 years. Majority (83.4% and 98.9%) of the respondents were males for both farmers and pastoralists respectively. Also, 95.7% and 97.7% of the farmers and pastoralists respectively were married, with 56.6% of the farmers obtaining primary school education while 47.1% of pastoralists obtained Arabic education. The mean household size was 7 and 10 persons for farmers and pastoralists respectively. Furthermore, the average years of experience in farming and pastoralism were 23 and 32 years respectively, while the average farm size of the farmers was 3 hectares, and the average herd size of the pastoralists was 31 cattle. The average monthly income was N58,850 and N329,800 for farmers and pastoralists respectively. The result further revealed that the major causes of farmer/pastoralist conflict were inadequate accessibility to grazing reserve (100%), revenge (98.9%) and indiscriminate bush burning (96.6%). The result of the linear regression revealed that marital status (P<0.01), average monthly income (P<0.01) and age (P<0.05) were the major socio-economic characteristics influencing the incidence of conflict. Furthermore, the result revealed that the most effective coping strategy used in the study area were dialogue and education. The study concluded that the major causes of conflict in the study area were inadequate accessibility to grazing reserve, indiscriminate bush burning and ethnic rivalry. The study recommended that Governments at all levels in collaboration with community members should create a sustainable grazing reserve that will enable pastoralist to have grazing fields.