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PDF
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Type:
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Conference Paper |
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Author:
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Gefu, Jerome O. |
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Conference:
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The Commons in an Age of Globalisation, the Ninth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property |
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Location:
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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe |
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Conf. Date:
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June 17-21, 2002 |
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Date:
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2002 |
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/1034
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Sector:
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Agriculture
General & Multiple Resources
Social Organization |
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Region:
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Africa |
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Subject(s):
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IASC
common pool resources
irrigation
agricultural expansion
wetlands
conflict resolution
land tenure and use
resource management
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Abstract:
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"Many agrarian countries in Africa are experiencing high population growth with an accompanying increased demand for arable cropland. The need to provide food of crop and animal origin to meet ever growing demands necessitates opening up of lands hitherto uncultivated including marginal lands. In many cases, especially where high population densities have led to overcrowding of existing farm lands, agricultural intensification has inevitably resulted. This kind of population-driven agricultural intensification often necessitates the adoption of certain farming techniques such as irrigation procedures and the adoption of agro-chemicals or improved organic farming techniques. Farm lands that were left to fallow for natural regeneration of the soil nutrients are fast disappearing so also are grazing lands which have traditionally provided dry season grazing to pastoralists.
"This changing pattern of agricultural production occasioned by population and/or market driven intensification has recently been given national and international support in many parts of Africa. Nigeria is a country that has tended towards this direction. The intention is to boost agricultural production to cope with increased demands. A recent approach has been the support of increased dry season irrigation farming. The objective of the irrigation project is to promote agricultural growth through conjunctive exploitation of surface and shallow aquifer water resources for small holder farm-owned and managed small- scale irrigation development.
"Wetlands (fadamas) have alternative and competitive uses among which are: crop farming, grazing, fishing and wildlife hunting. Most fadama land in Nigeria is used largely for rainy season crop production and is left fallow for most part of the dry season for livestock grazing. Pastoralists have found relief in pasturing their animals in the uncultivated wetlands during the dry season. But with the advent of the dry season irrigation project, pastoralists have been denied the access to this dry season grazing resource. The competitive uses to which fadama land is put is the source of potential conflicts amongst the various rural land users. These include conflicts among settled farmers; between farmers and pastoralists; between farmers and fishermen and between fishermen and pastoralists. Furthermore, the development of the fadama areas is an interference on thefadama ecosystem which has the potential of adversely affecting plant and animal species bio-diversity. Thus, a conflict between environmentalists and the actual landless is likely.
"This paper presents the different facets of conflict arising from resource utilization and the principal actors involved. The various modes of conflict resolution are presented with a discussion of the merits and demerits of each settlement mechanism. Conflicts of resource use have been grouped into two distinct categories viz:- 'Within group' and 'Between group.' The most frequent form of tension and conflict is the 'between group' where the farmer/pastoralist conflict is the most significant, involving people of divergent ethnic origins. The method used in resolving conflict depends on the nature and magnitude of the conflict. It was observed that places with a high cattle population recorded the highest cases of conflict between pastoralists and farmers due to limited dry season grazing resources.
"Mitigative measures that would ameliorate conflict arising from natural resource utilization are discussed. To implement these, an awareness of principles of sustainable resource management has to be created as well as for chances arising from mutual understanding of resource needs and from the joint simultaneous or consultative use of natural resources among user groups."
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