A Historical Analysis of the Causes and Effects of Herders-Farmers Conflicts in Taraba State

Iorkile Sewuese Rachael

Department of History Faculty of Arts, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria

&

Nwagu Evelyn Eziamaka

Department of History and Diplomatic Studies,Faculty of Arts,Taraba State University, Jalingo, Nigeria.

E-mail: eziamakachibuzo@gmail.com

Abstract

Since the Fourth Nigerian Republic in 1999, farmers-herders violence has killed thousands of people and displaced tens of thousands more. The trend enveloped almost throughout much of the western Sahel due to an expansion of the population of the agricultural communities associated with the encroachment on cattle routes on one hand and the deteriorating environment conditions, desertification and soil degradation; breakdown in traditional conflict resolution mechanism, struggle over land and water resources, proliferation of small arms and crime in rural areas, on the other hand. This paper, therefore, attempts to examine or assess how these factors contribute in one way or the other in the ongoing farmers-herders conflict in Taraba state. Both primary and secondary sources contributed enormously in the supply of information used in this study. The paper has also proffered some of the recommendation as the panacea for taming the tides farmers-herders conflicts in the state.

Key Words: farmers, herders, conflicts

Introduction

Over the last decade, clashes between indigenous farming communities and nomadic herdsmen have increased in several parts of Central Nigeria, including the country’s eastern flank (IDMC 2008). For instance, on 4/3/2003, herdsmen from neighbouring Chad attacked the rural town of Dumne in Borno state killing 40 people. [1]

In the same year, Udawa cattle herders attacked and burned 34 farming villages in Adamawa and Gombe states in Feb and March,