EFFECT OF FARMER-HERDSMEN CONFLICT ON POVERTY STATUS OF FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

1 General Management Division, Agricultural Development Management Department, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) Ilorin, Nigeria 2 Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria 3 Extension Management Division, Rural Development and Gender issue, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) Ilorin, Nigeria 4 Reseach Division, Training Technology Department, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) Ilorin, Nigeria ABSTRACT. This study examines the effect of farmer-herdsmen conflict on poverty status of crop farming households in Kwara State, Nigeria. Primary data was used for the study and a three stage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. A structured questionnaire was used for the purpose of extracting needed information from 110 crop farming households selected for the study. The data collected were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) Index, and Tobit regression model. The result of prevalence of poverty among the farming households, who experienced conflict and those who didn’t in the study area, was 19.23% and 10.34%, while the intensity of poverty was 1.38 and 0.99%, respectively. The severity of poverty, which measures the extent of poverty, shows poverty was more severe among the poor who experienced conflict with a poverty index of 0.0002 than the poor who didn’t experienced conflict, who had index of 0.0001. The Tobit regression model, which measured the effects of farmer-herdsmen conflict on poverty status of the farming household, indicates that the likelihood of being poor were more with large farming households, noneducated farming household heads, small farm size, low farm income households, low off-farm income and occurrence of conflict. The study therefore recommends that governments should designate some areas for the herdsmen as grazing field and also establish grazing reserves and communities in all the states, so as to reduce farmers-herdsmen conflict.