Causes of Farmer–Herder Conflicts in Africa

Conflicts between farmers and herders feature prominently in the debate around building peaceful pastoralism in Africa. Actors have been very concerned in recent years with the increase in intensity of these conflicts. What remains a great curiosity is the level of responsibility attributable to land insecurity and, moreover, the role played by women and young people in the manifestation of these conflicts. SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises) addressed these different aspects of the issue in a report entitled « Causes of farmer-herder conflicts in Africa ». The document reports that all the case studies reviewed make a direct link between farmer-herder conflicts and land or natural resources. All also conclude that these conflicts are increasing or becoming increasingly violent, but only a few present primary evidence to support these claims.