Fulani herder-farmer conflicts in rural Ghana: Perspectives of communities in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District

Abstract

Fulani herder-farmer conflict has existed for long across sub-Sahara Africa. In recent years, the incident has become a daily norm in the West African sub region. Using a cross-sectional mixed method research design, the study explored the causes of conflict between the Fulani herdsmen and the farmers, the effects of the conflicts on agriculture and food security and the resolution and settlement procedures. The study used the purposive sampling technique to select four communities (Vodiel, Saro, Kpali and Tagalteng), the snowball sampling to locate the Fulani herdsmen and simple random sampling to select the individual farmers at the household level for the study. Data collected was analysed descriptively and thematically. The results show that, destruction of crops and theft cases were the main perceived causes of conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers. The study recommends the need for the traditional authorities, district assemblies and the district police command to enforce local and national regulatory policies to regulate the activities and movements of the Fulani-herdsmen and their cattle so that their presence in the areas do not play antagonist role to the activities of farmers.