Rural Land Use Planning Approach to Communal Clashes between Fulani Herdsmen and Yoruba Indigenous Farmers in Shaki, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Communal clashes between herders and farmers are prevalent in Central and West Africa. Factors of climate variability, environmental degradation and socio-political upheaval have shifted pastoralist migration patterns and increased tensions between herders and farmers. This paper examined residents’ perception of communal clashes between Fulani herdsmen and Yoruba indigenous farmers in Shaki with a view to improving rural land use governance in the region. Rural land management was conceptualised while primary and secondary data were sourced using a structured questionnaire and key informant interviews. The purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 161 hamlets from 491 for the household survey, while five chairmen of the landlords’ association, one police district command officer and one local government chairman were interviewed. The study revealed that 61 per cent of the respondents are farmers, 63.3 per cent affirmed that the incidence of communal clashes, conflict of interest (80.8%) and lack of physical planning regulations (61.5%) are major causes of communal clashes. Loss of lives and properties (65.8%) is a major implication of communal clashes, while community-based organised security (67.7%) is used as a measure against herdsmen’s attack. However, rural land use planning is required to reduce the incessant communal clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and Yoruba indigenous farmers in Shaki environs.