Revisiting the Cultural Processes of Agricultural LAND Appropriation in North Central Nigeria: Panacea for Preventing Violence between Farmers and Herdsmen

Farming communities in North Central Nigeria have experienced unprecedented violence in recent times. This dimension of violence has been precipitated by the unhealthy farmers-herdsmen inter-phase in the bid to gain advantage over one another with respect to access and usage of agricultural lands. Land appropriation historically, has followed a laid down cultural process of inheritance along family lines in North Central Nigeria or other special arrangements consented to by the custodians of their cultures. This way every member of the communities could clearly identify and use his portion of the land. However, violent conflicts have persisted in this region, thereby frustrating concerted efforts toward food security in Nigeria as a result of loss of lives and properties as well as societal instability. This paper addresses the possible ways of preventing these avoidable violent conflicts. The study adopted Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to elicit information from members of the communities in the study area. The results of the FGD show that (i) the herdsmen were invaders into the communities’ farm lands, (ii) the herdsmen do not ask for portions of agricultural lands, (iii) compensations were usually not paid to victims (farmers) of these invasion, (iv) the farmers are not prepared to be forced out of their inherited lands, (vi) the herdsmen have never complied with peace efforts. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the forceful land grabbing approach of the herdsmen was responsible for the incessant conflicts. It was therefore recommended that the cultural process of land appropriation be modified and adhered to such that everybody is made to comply with the process of acquiring land for guaranteed sustainable food production.