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- Convenors:
-
Oluwaseun Kolade
(De Montfort University)
Gaim Kibreab (London South Bank University)
Robert Smith
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- Location:
- C7 (Richmond building)
- Start time:
- 8 September, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
In recent years, land use conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa have intensified due to population explosion, increasing urbanisation, climate change, and non-adaptive tenure systems. This panel explores innovative approaches that can engender peace through efficient land use and fair distribution.
Long Abstract:
Land use is a major source of conflicts and instability in sub-Saharan Africa. As the population significantly increased and urbanisation picked up pace since the turn of the millennium, there is greater demand and stiffer competition for land by various stakeholders including small-holder farmers, large commercial farms, pastoralists, non-farm industries and property developers. This problem is exacerbated by the negative effects of climate change, inefficient land use due to low innovation uptake, and the persistence of old methods of production. For example, it has been argued that perennial clashes between nomadic pastoralists and arable farmers in many parts of Africa are linked with the putative unsustainability of the nomadic mode of production. Similarly, large scale alienation of land for commercial purposes by governments and big corporations has led to more and more violent struggles for scarce land among small-holder farmers.The clashes between these—usually bottom-of-the-pyramid—actors have precipitated significant losses of human lives, destruction of inter- and intra-ethnic social capital, and severe food crisis in the continent. While the resulting humanitarian crisis appears intractable, several scholars and practitioners have suggested that these problems can be addressed with innovative approaches, for example through the establishment of grazing reserves and the adoption of low cost irrigation techniques and innovative conservation practices. The panel therefore invites empirical and theoretical contributions that illuminate new ideas that can facilitate long-term solution to land use conflicts. Papers at various stages of development, including pilot studies and discussion papers, are welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the implications of changing agricultural land use for farmers' livelihoods, poverty alleviation, and household food security in the context of globalisation and environmental change, concerns which are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Paper long abstract:
Many smallholder farmers in the Jaman North District of Brong-Ahafo Region in Ghana are shifting from food crop production to increased cultivation of cashew, an export cash crop. This paper examines the implications of this changing agricultural land use for farmers' livelihoods, poverty alleviation, and household food security in the context of globalisation and environmental change, concerns which are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Using qualitative, participatory research with 60 participants, the research found that farmers valued the additional income stream, but were also apprehensive about the long-term consequences of allocating so much land to cashew plantations and leaving little land available for food crop production. Young, middle and older generations were concerned about food security and the weak bargaining position of cashew farmers in negotiating fair prices with export companies and intermediaries. Greater integration into the global economy exposed farmers to multiple risks, which reflect wider structural inequalities including: the uneven effects of economic globalisation, persistent poverty, rises in food prices, hunger and food insecurity, growing competition for land, global-local power imbalances, gender and generational inequalities, as well as climate change and threats to agricultural sustainability. We argue that the Sustainable Development Goals concerning poverty, hunger, good health, gender equality, reduced inequalities, sustainable agricultural production and adaptation to climate change will only be met if there is greater understanding about the complex interactions between sustainable food systems, changing land use and poverty alleviation in particular places.
Paper short abstract:
The aim of this paper is to examine the interface between the pastoralists and farmers conflicts over the use and ownership of land and water in Nigeria. Conflict surrounding land issues in Nigeria are complex and multifaceted, the complexity and dynamics change over time and depending on the area.
Paper long abstract:
The management of land ownership or possession is one of the most critical challenges facing the Sahel region, especially between farmers and herdsmen over either land use or water, and or both. Pastoral conflicts sit at the murky nexus between struggle over water and land due to harsh climatic conditions in the arid and semi-arid region. competition over the ownership of water and land is a factor in triggering, escalating or sustaining violent conflicts which are increasing as a result of; environmental degradation, desertification and increase population growth and human activities. mismanagement of land and natural resources is contributing to new conflicts and obstructing the peaceful resolution of existing ones. Land conflicts commonly become violent when linked to wider processes of political exclusion, social discrimination, economic marginalization, and a perception that peaceful action is no longer a viable strategy for change. Land and conflict are often inextricably linked. In Nigeria farmers have always accused the Fulani herdsmen of trespassing on their farmland to graze their cattle, destroying their crops which they have invested a huge amount of time and energy. The Fulani herdsmen have always ventured in search of land on which to feed their cattle. These herdsmen are mostly from the north travelling southward in search of grazing land as a result of the combined effect of competition for land and water. This paper set to investigate, examine and analysis the interface between farmers versus pastoralists conflict in Nigeria.
Paper short abstract:
This paper proposes a new multi-dimensional model that integrates technological and socio-political factors into a framework for analysing and resolving perennial farmers-herdsmen conflicts in Nigeria.
Paper long abstract:
Herdsmen-farmers' relations have had a big impact on West African history, leading to revolutionary changes in the 19th-century when some old regimes were upended. In the subsequent two centuries specifically in Northern Nigeria, the new regime maintained law and order through a system that successfully regulated farming and herding. Following the destruction of this effective regulatory system, perennial farmers-herdsmen conflicts have intensified in recent decades, precipitating significant losses of lives and destruction of farmlands and property in various parts of Nigeria. Successive Nigerian governments have failed to resolve the problem due to, among others, lack of political will and the absence of a comprehensive policy initiative that considers technological, political, cultural, and ethnic dimensions of the problem. This study therefore draws from historical review and thematic analyses of documents, memos and interviews of key stakeholders, including farmers, herdsmen, political actors and policy makers to identify and analyse socio-political and technological factors associated with farmers-herdsmen conflicts. The findings reveal that the herdsmen, who have for centuries been accustomed to a nomadic lifestyle would, while not averse to technological innovations, struggle to adopt a new mode of production that is based on settlement in a single place. The paper therefore observes that, while technological innovations are essential to resolving the economic struggle for land, the required lifestyle changes associated with the uptake of technological innovations are a more complex process that requires continuous stakeholder engagement, cultural understanding, and sustained government commitment in a negotiated process of modernisation.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines how Zimbabwean rural women have been adapting and surviving within the constraints and limitations of a patriarchal society. The women are the major producers in agriculture but their importance as producers is rarely recognised.
Paper long abstract:
The study sought to understand the role of women in rural development strategies in Zimbabwe. The paper seeks to investigate the contribution of women to development strategies and how they have been treated in development. IBRD(1975 ) defines rural development as strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of a specific group of people ,it involves the benefits of development to the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas and the group includes small scale farmers, tenants and landless. Rural women in Zimbabwe are not given the financial assistance they require to be efficient farmers in the agricultural sector. The women are not recognized and marginalized by the patriarchal society. Curiously, it is observed that most of the agricultural surplus was produced by female labour but controlled by men. According to Ester Boserup (1970), women in Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Zimbabwe, formed "female farming systems" where women comprise well over half of the agricultural labour force. Whilst women were valued for their agricultural labour power, their work did not confer commensurate economic status on them. Their low socio-economic status was both a reflection and a cause of women's position in regard to the main means of production. This also influenced their ability to produce and have adequate access to food for consumption or for selling. The study reveals that Land Reform as a development strategy failed to cater for a gender balance and hence marginalized women in Zimbabwe.