Influence of risk perception of conflict on farmers’ production decisions: Evidence from rural Nigeria

Abstract

The increasing conflict between farmers and herdsmen has caused many injuries and deaths on both sides and the widespread destruction of property in Nigeria. In this paper, we investigate how the risk perception of farmer-herdsmen conflict influences the production decisions of rural farmers, using the data of 401 farmers collected from the North Central and South-East geo-political zones of Nigeria. Based on an augmented production function with a shock from the risk perception of farmer-herdsmen (F-H) conflict, we test the proposition that rural farmers with higher risk perception of F-H conflict are less likely to use fertilizers and pesticides. Findings show that a unit increase in the risk perception of F-H conflict reduces the likelihoods of investing in fertilizers by 8.9% and the amount spent on fertilizer per acre of cultivated land by about 51.8%. Farmers’ risk perception of F-H conflict does not have a significant impact on pesticide use. Our findings suggest that the continued resource-use conflicts due to the encroachment of grazing land, arising from population growth and climate change, need to be addressed to reduce the detrimental effect on production and consequently food insecurity.