Effects of Incessant Herdsmen- Arable Crop Farmers' Conflicts on Rural and Agricultural Development among Farmers in Taraba and Plateau States, Nigeria

This study assessed effects of incessant herdsmen-arable crop farmers’ conflicts on rural and agricultural development among farmers in Plateau and Taraba States, Nigeria. The population of this study consisted of arable crop farmers in Taraba and Plateau States. Stratified, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 252 respondents as sample size. Data for the study were collected from primary source with the use of structured questionnaire and were analyzed with the use of inferential statistics such as Kruskal-Wallis. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) between Plateau and Taraba States in terms of effects of incessant herdsmen-arable crop farmer’ conflicts on rural and agricultural development, H. Cal. (-75) < X2 Tab (11.1) at 0.05 level of probability. It was concluded that there were effects of incessant herdsmen-arable crop farmers’ conflicts on rural and agricultural development which are displacement of people, loss of lives and properties, environmental pollution, threats to peace and security, decrease in food production and famine among others. The study, therefore, recommended that there should be good government policy on open grazing, there should be a control on immigration of foreign Fulanis into Nigeria, ranching should be encouraged, and Land Use Act policy should be fully implemented.