Climate Change and Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Nigeria : A Case Study of Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State

Sammanfattning

My interest in farmer–herder relations goes back to a memory from 1995, when I was in secondary school. Students returned from the school farm in fear after a confrontation with passing herders, and I remember the shock of seeing one of our cooks injured in the chaos. I didn’t fully understand the situation then, but the tension of that moment stayed with me. Looking back, it was my first glimpse into how fragile interactions over land and resources can be, an awareness that later shaped my desire to study farmer–herder conflict and the environmental pressures that deepen it. Tensions between farming and herding communities across Nigeria have grown markedly over recent decades, with Kaduna State among the most severely affected areas. This study examines how climate change amplifies existing tensions between farmers and herders in the Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) of southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Drawing on Resource Scarcity Theory and Eco-survivalism as analytical lenses, the research uses a mixed-methods design that integrates primary data from structured questionnaires completed by 86 respondents, alongside qualitative interviews with key stakeholders, and is supplemented by secondary data from peer-reviewed literature, international reports, and institutional documentation. Key findings indicate that competition for land and water constitutes the foremost driver of conflict (mean = 4.20), further intensified by demographic pressure (mean = 4.21) and the climate-driven displacement of herder migration corridors (mean = 3.64). Study participants ranked extended drought periods and advancing desertification as the most severe climate-related threats (mean = 3.83), while widespread dissatisfaction with state-level responses was found to deepen communal grievances (mean = 3.47). The study determines that the violence in Chikun reflects both structural and demand-side resource scarcity, worsened by the combined effects of climatic deterioration and inadequate governance frameworks. The study advocates integrating agroforestry practices, establishing community-led dispute resolution bodies, and delivering climate-adaptive agricultural training, all anchored in reinforced institutional arrangements.