Abstract

The study examined the patterns and recent trends of communal conflicts in North-central, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to identify the types of communal conflicts; determine the frequency of occurrence of communal conflicts in the study area; determine the seasonality of occurrence of communal conflicts; identify the category of people mostly affected by communal conflicts and examine the period of displacement from communities during communal conflicts. A four staged sampling procedure was used to obtain a sample size of 391 farmers. Data were elicited using questionnaires as interview schedule and were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and mean. The major findings showed that farmers/herder’s conflict (75.70%) was a common occurrence with 47.05% of the conflicts occurred both in the dry and rainy seasons. The result revealed that both the young (58.82%) and adult (59.59%) population were affected by the occurrence of communal conflicts. The mean period of displacement from communities during communal conflicts in the study area was 11.74 months. In conclusion, the study identified communal conflicts involving herdsmen/farmers primarily affecting mostly youths, with a mean displacement period of 11.74 months. The study recommended that extension service providers, government and non-governmental organisations should facilitate farmers’ access to productive resources to improve their well-being and productivity and aid in mitigating the effects of communal conflicts.

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