Lingering farmers-herders crisis, threat to food security — Sector players

The lingering farmers-herders crisis in the North Central region has been described as food security threat, as millions of farmers have been displaced, families dislocated, just as people, especially women in the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) camps are living with a lot of psychological trauma.

The alarm was raised by the representative of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Angela Odah, during a discourse organised by Maroon Square on the public presentation of a research report titled: ‘The Root Cause of Farmers-Herders Crisis in North Central Nigeria,” supported by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Lagos.

The research was done by Plangshak Musa Suchi and Sallek Yaks Musa both of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos, Plateau State.  

Their findings revealed that the crisis was caused by multiple, but interrelated socio-economic and political factors associated with the structure of the society and the character of the Nigerian state.

Odah said: “We have to share the findings with various stakeholders within the society, it is a call to action because once you know the effect of an issue or what has happened it generates discourse and with discourse we hope that a solution will be proffered and putting the solution in the front burner is very important.

“You don’t address any problem by sweeping it under the carpet, you bring it out to provide opportunities for people to discuss it and proffer solutions. This issue is causing Nigeria a lot, food security is threatened, millions of people are living in displacement, millions of children are out of school, families have been turned apart, a lot of people, women and people living in the IDPs are living with a lot of psychological issues.

“This is a very serious issue to the development of Nigeria, that is why we decided to focus on that and to ensure that Nigerians themselves discuss this issue and find resolution to it because this is our society,” She said.

The Policy Director of Maroon Square, Chiemeke Onyeisi, said the issue seems to have gone under the radar, as the country is in political season due to the forthcoming 2023 elections.

He said the issues of farmers-herders crisis has not abated, stressing that the prices of food that have gone up is as a result of dislocation suffered by the farmers.

Editor-in-Chief Brasoc Communication, Frank Oshanugor, who doubles as one of the reviewers said the researchers traced the crisis from 2001 to 2020, spanning the period of about 20 years, adding that three states were used as their study settings to unravel the actual causes of the crisis.