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Increasing violent conflict between herders and farmers in Africa: Claims and evidence

TR Number

Date

1999

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a literature review and postal survey focused on the many relatively recent claims of increasing violent conflict between herders and farmers in semi-arid Africa. These claims are being used to prompt new policy and development interventions that could have profound implication on social and economic relations and natural resource use in semi-arid areas. However, the review revealed that few of these claims are supported by compelling evidence, and even the historical analyses which were reviewed fail to provide the rigorous time-series data necessary to confirm the hypothesis that violent farmer-herder conflict is generally increasing in semi-arid Africa. This lack of convincing evidence that violent conflict is increasing should engender a more circumspect approach on the part of policy makers and development professionals alike.

Description

Metadata only record

Keywords

Conflict, Semiarid zones, Cattle, Violent conflict, Farmers, Herder conflict, Ecosystem

Citation

Development Policy Review 17(4): 397-418