**5. Discussion: conversation with related studies**

We did not kick off with this study on the assumption that it is the first and pioneering attempt to explore this subject; rather we began in the acknowledged awareness that ours is another attempt in the same direction of an ongoing social science inquiry that is however in need so much more to be done. As such we appealed to many earlier studies to seek meaning of and from what we gathered in the field as our contribution to the ongoing dialogue.

In keeping with the multilayer findings of our study, many other studies have also documented the agricultural production and above all African development costs of ethnic conflict in Africa. Some scholars have documented that massive loss of lives, destruction of property, and exposure to diseases on the one hand, and hindering of man power growth and labor strength, socioeconomic development, collapse of social cohesion and political stability on the other, are some of the costs of conflicts in many parts of Africa [24, 25]. Some other studies have underscored that conflicts in Africa threaten women and girls with reproductive health problems including STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and maternal mortality [26]. Not alone in that conclusion, others have also conducted studies corroborating that finding and push it further to include the dire consequences of conflicts on women and girls demonstrating that the confusion ensuing during and immediately after conflicts disrupts sources of livelihood and socioeconomic activities of women [27]. In like manner, some other studies have found that conflicts and civil wars, by forcing

**159**

*Agricultural Production Amid Conflict: Implications for Africa's Regional Development*

communities into refugee camps, greatly increase the risks of infectious diseases with the usual sexual violence they bring upon women and young girls [28]. This is in addition to the fact that the male folks in their lives—their husbands, brothers, and sons, who are the main combatants in conflicts—are often either seriously injured or killed, while the women themselves are subjected to the horrors of rape or even killed too. In addition to these findings, others studies [23] have linked conflicts with trauma which is in turn associated with poorer daily functioning,

Pushing the conversation further, a joint study of some scholars found that between 2011 and 2013, conflicts led to the loss of many lives. This is besides dozens of people who were rendered morbid, displaced, and thus became homeless and destitute [29]. It is also documented that in the long-drawn inter-communal conflict between Aguleri and Umuleri of Southeast Nigeria over land/boundary, in which automatic weapons and dynamite were used and thus described as the theater of fratricidal war, thousands of people fled for refuge in schools and public buildings, more than 300 people were killed, another 120 people were killed in the renewed episodes of the conflict. Still on the general implications of conflicts for economic development in Africa, it has also been documented that conflicts keep affected communities on a very low level of agricultural and general economic performance especially as they often decimate huge numbers of the warring populations [30]. On account of this situation it has been concluded by some scholars that "… conflict

On the impact of conflict on agricultural production specifically—and by implication on African development in general—some studies [27] record that ethnic conflicts lead to diminished fortunes in agricultural productivity especially when they occur during farming seasons, which causes most farmers to abandon their farms and flee for fear of being attacked; this in turn results in low agricultural productivity in the following harvest season. They also found cases of the destruction of farmlands, farm crops, and the killing of cows all of which result in real and quantifiable material losses. A World Bank Development report [32] lays out a wide range of findings including that conflicts lead to high rate of youth unemployment, high incidence of circular poverty, low per capita income, overall economic decline, double loss caused by diverting valuable resources to destructive activities, more backward economic growth, forced migration, reduced access to education and health care, increased risk of predatory and contagious diseases in refugee camps,

In groping specifically for causal explanations of conflicts in Africa, an army of scholars hone in on the fragile post-independence historical and political landscape directly precipitated by European colonial legacy which, from all intents and purposes, successfully but unsuccessfully imposed indirect rule on African communities aimed at hegemonizing populations that otherwise co-existed separately even in the face of their sociocultural differences [33–40]. By so doing, these students of contemporary Africa argue that colonial rule distorted by separating and amalgamating populations in such ways that made "… the struggle for political power, and control" [27] the epicenter of life in post-independence Africa. This is typified in

the Nigerian case as is aptly captured in this historical backdrop:

*The state of Nigeria was an artificial British imperial creation whose major groups—the Hausa-Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the west, and the Igbo of the east—were each larger than most individual African states. Britain fostered strong regional governments and, moreover, encouraged a sense of regional rivalry, maintaining the balance between the three great regions from the center. There was no historical basis for the unity of these three and their different ethnic groups,* 

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86613*

imposes costs beyond destruction" [31].

and increased mortality rate.

physical limitations, and chronic medical conditions.

#### *Agricultural Production Amid Conflict: Implications for Africa's Regional Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86613*

communities into refugee camps, greatly increase the risks of infectious diseases with the usual sexual violence they bring upon women and young girls [28]. This is in addition to the fact that the male folks in their lives—their husbands, brothers, and sons, who are the main combatants in conflicts—are often either seriously injured or killed, while the women themselves are subjected to the horrors of rape or even killed too. In addition to these findings, others studies [23] have linked conflicts with trauma which is in turn associated with poorer daily functioning, physical limitations, and chronic medical conditions.

Pushing the conversation further, a joint study of some scholars found that between 2011 and 2013, conflicts led to the loss of many lives. This is besides dozens of people who were rendered morbid, displaced, and thus became homeless and destitute [29]. It is also documented that in the long-drawn inter-communal conflict between Aguleri and Umuleri of Southeast Nigeria over land/boundary, in which automatic weapons and dynamite were used and thus described as the theater of fratricidal war, thousands of people fled for refuge in schools and public buildings, more than 300 people were killed, another 120 people were killed in the renewed episodes of the conflict. Still on the general implications of conflicts for economic development in Africa, it has also been documented that conflicts keep affected communities on a very low level of agricultural and general economic performance especially as they often decimate huge numbers of the warring populations [30]. On account of this situation it has been concluded by some scholars that "… conflict imposes costs beyond destruction" [31].

On the impact of conflict on agricultural production specifically—and by implication on African development in general—some studies [27] record that ethnic conflicts lead to diminished fortunes in agricultural productivity especially when they occur during farming seasons, which causes most farmers to abandon their farms and flee for fear of being attacked; this in turn results in low agricultural productivity in the following harvest season. They also found cases of the destruction of farmlands, farm crops, and the killing of cows all of which result in real and quantifiable material losses. A World Bank Development report [32] lays out a wide range of findings including that conflicts lead to high rate of youth unemployment, high incidence of circular poverty, low per capita income, overall economic decline, double loss caused by diverting valuable resources to destructive activities, more backward economic growth, forced migration, reduced access to education and health care, increased risk of predatory and contagious diseases in refugee camps, and increased mortality rate.

In groping specifically for causal explanations of conflicts in Africa, an army of scholars hone in on the fragile post-independence historical and political landscape directly precipitated by European colonial legacy which, from all intents and purposes, successfully but unsuccessfully imposed indirect rule on African communities aimed at hegemonizing populations that otherwise co-existed separately even in the face of their sociocultural differences [33–40]. By so doing, these students of contemporary Africa argue that colonial rule distorted by separating and amalgamating populations in such ways that made "… the struggle for political power, and control" [27] the epicenter of life in post-independence Africa. This is typified in the Nigerian case as is aptly captured in this historical backdrop:

*The state of Nigeria was an artificial British imperial creation whose major groups—the Hausa-Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the west, and the Igbo of the east—were each larger than most individual African states. Britain fostered strong regional governments and, moreover, encouraged a sense of regional rivalry, maintaining the balance between the three great regions from the center. There was no historical basis for the unity of these three and their different ethnic groups,* 

*Regional Development in Africa*

In the face of the insecurity created by ethnic conflicts, investors find no compelling reasons to cast their treasure in the affected communities especially as many of them lose their business assets to looters most of whom are indigenes usually from the warring factions of the same locality or from opposable ethnic communities. Overall, therefore, Nigerian farming communities experience the horror of food insecurity, high prices of food stuffs and other commodities, backwardness in

Engaged in interviews on the issue of why Nigerian farming communities experience many and sometimes persistent conflicts among themselves and with their close and distant neighbors, some telling explanations bordering on causality were adduced. First, many held to the ideology that conflict is unavoidable among them because they and their neighbors are either farmers and so always in need of more land against the pressure mounted by increased food need and population growth. The second explanation appealed to the primordial conflict which led to the fission of the original Tiv group during the first stages of its migration and settlement where it is now. Incidentally, those who participated in the interviews would not see that the human and social cost of conflict, usually high and horrendous, is enough reason to stop or deter them from employing conflict in asserting their right over their land when it is contested by another group. Instead they cited the many conflicts within and around their area to argue that conflict is unavoidable and the other inevitable side of their lives as farmers. Particularly, they blame the official government for not making enough effort to institute effective conflict management mechanics in their communities. It was also found that when the government does step in during conflict, privileged officials politicize the moment as opportunities to further enrich themselves and gain more economically motivated social and political positions in society on the one hand and, on the other, that government intervention during conflicts between and among communities is often conducted in such ways that favor some communities to the detriment of others making it

socioeconomic development and circular poverty due to constant conflicts.

rather more difficult for the conflict to end peacefully.

**5. Discussion: conversation with related studies**

the field as our contribution to the ongoing dialogue.

We did not kick off with this study on the assumption that it is the first and pioneering attempt to explore this subject; rather we began in the acknowledged awareness that ours is another attempt in the same direction of an ongoing social science inquiry that is however in need so much more to be done. As such we appealed to many earlier studies to seek meaning of and from what we gathered in

In keeping with the multilayer findings of our study, many other studies have also documented the agricultural production and above all African development costs of ethnic conflict in Africa. Some scholars have documented that massive loss of lives, destruction of property, and exposure to diseases on the one hand, and hindering of man power growth and labor strength, socioeconomic development, collapse of social cohesion and political stability on the other, are some of the costs of conflicts in many parts of Africa [24, 25]. Some other studies have underscored that conflicts in Africa threaten women and girls with reproductive health problems including STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and maternal mortality [26]. Not alone in that conclusion, others have also conducted studies corroborating that finding and push it further to include the dire consequences of conflicts on women and girls demonstrating that the confusion ensuing during and immediately after conflicts disrupts sources of livelihood and socioeconomic activities of women [27]. In like manner, some other studies have found that conflicts and civil wars, by forcing

**158**

*except British imperial convenience. At independence, therefore, the new Nigeria inherited three powerful regions whose interests tended to draw them away from central authority and, once the British had departed, there was intense rivalry as to who should control the center [39].*

In sum, this economically driven colonial balkanization and amalgamation of regions that ordinarily had nothing in common—except as they would later have oil in common to fall apart on in the Nigerian case, for example—would almost immediately be put to the test "… by inter and intra, regional and sectional disagreements…" [27]. It was this unhealthy political atmosphere that ruptured and culminated in the full-blown, total war of 1967–1970 in Nigeria with its multistranded fratricidal consequences, the rippling effects of which still linger across the nation till date.

Another crowded field of social scientists [24, 27, 41–45] argue that disputes over land and ecological resources, population explosion and the need for more land, boundary, territoriality, domination, oppression and exclusion, indigenesettler divide, chieftaincy and power relations and religious differences are specific causes of a particular character of conflicts classified as inter-intra-ethnic conflicts. Still more [46] use sing the 1992 Ugep-Idomi boundary conflict in Cross River State of Nigeria as a case in point to further the land resources-related causal account and arguing that boundary in relation to "… land, water, oil wells or other important natural resources…" is at the root of violent feuds between communities, and that these have continued to be on the increase in Nigeria. Other inquiries on the region's development experience further elongate the list of studies that fan the embers of the argument linking conflicts in Nigeria and Africa directly to land and natural resources found therein [24, 27, 28, 37, 41, 47, 48].

While not differing from the foregoing theoretical stance, other scholars [27, 49–51] talk rather specifically of "ecological resources" in their account of causes of conflicts in the region. As such, the case of natural resource conflicts in North-Central Nigeria has been used to exemplify this ideological interpretation contending that natural resource conflict is more dispersed than sociopolitical conflict. Natural resource conflicts usually occur, the study argues, in inaccessible hinterlands and often go unreported regardless of the fact that such conflicts are "…an important factor in the recurrent food crises characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa, since it deters those in rural areas from investing for increased production" [52].

Focusing on age-long conflict resolution mechanisms in Nigeria, and using the Mbaduku-Udam crisis bordering on territoriality to make a case, an extensive study [53] identifies "…land space and the resources available as one of the causes of…conflicts in Nigeria". Not alone on that stance as other scholars [54, 55] also argue in the same light and conclude that territoriality in the sense of land area occupies centrality in inter-intra-ethnic conflicts adding that some of such conflicts date back to historical moments before the independence of Nigeria in 1960. One offers a deeper reason why conflicts rage around land: "The major occupation of most of ethnic groups who inhabit the North-Central Nigeria is farming. The need to acquire and use land for farming has, therefore, been at the root of several crises in this region" [51].

These ideologically differentiated accounts of conflict in Africa sometimes athwart each other seem to fall within the wider anatomic ambience captioned "Structural Causes of Conflict" by The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria [56]. According to the afore-cited institute, structural causes of conflict consists of four main manifestations including securityrelated manifestations of conflict further broken down into proliferation of small arms, corruption of law-enforcement agents, and vigilante groups; political manifestations of conflict including political conflicts, succession and dethronement

**161**

**6. Conclusion**

*Agricultural Production Amid Conflict: Implications for Africa's Regional Development*

conflicts, and territorial disputes; economic manifestations of conflict comprising general poverty and inequality, resource competition, unequal development, and market competition; and social manifestations of conflict including ethnic and communal conflict, youth unemployment, the situation of women, breakdown of

Varied and different as these contextually and ideologically driven accounts of conflicts in Nigeria and Africa seem, it is our argument that it would be an unsuccessful attempt at making any clear-cut differentiations at the level of causality in matters concerning conflicts in the region. Instead, from insights furnished by our study data and the findings they lead to, we argued that these shades of causes of conflict in Nigeria in particular and Africa at large are intricately interwoven so much that any attempts at understanding one must invariably make for understanding the rest. Even the IPCRFRN document earlier cited admits the intricate inter-

*A particular conflict locale may exhibit the signs of more than one category (manifestation) of conflict The conflict in the Niger Delta, for instance, is an economic one (struggle for benefits derivable from an oil producing community), an ethnic/ communal one (the economic benefits…accrue to communities and the ownership of the land where the oil is located is therefore crucial to the enjoyment of benefits), a political one (political authorities must be those sympathetic to competing claims and all efforts to ensure that each party's candidate carries the day is put in), and one about traditional institution (the Urhobo and Ijaw contest of the claim of the Itshekiri to exclusive indigeneity of Warri and even the title of the paramount ruler of the Itshekiris as the Olu of Warri). Other conflicts in the country exhibit this multiple character trait. Actors in these multiple "battle fronts" are often the same [54].*

It is easy to see the evidence-based persuasion behind the conclusion on the interconnectedness of causes of conflicts in Africa underscoring also that economic development is often accompanied by violent ethnic conflict. In light of the foregoing, therefore, this study refuses to be glued to only one explanatory mode in tracking the micro (agricultural development) and more so the macro (overall regional development) causes and impact of conflict in Nigeria and Africa at large. Not even the selective, persuasive argument that "Of all forms of group conflicts, it would seem that ethnic conflicts have remained the most entrenched and intractable in Nigeria" [24] seems ideologically compelling enough to sway the findings of our study in that direction. At least for now, we note that all forms of conflict in Nigeria and Africa as a whole as anywhere else in the world produce one common feature: conflicts halt human activities; they lead to stagnation of economic performance; and they bring about breakdown of social order and political stability necessary for any societies to function well. As these and many other studies have argued, this study infers that social disintegration and economic decline are the most probable

This study set out to make a case in favor of boosting agricultural productivity in Africa especially in conflict-prone agrarian environments in order to ultimately guarantee the contribution of the agriculture sector to the region's overall development. The main aim of the study was to inform and educate the general public but more so those who have positions of power in relation to peace and stability among African farming communities so that they could carry out their work without

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86613*

social values, and psycho-cultural dispositions.

connectedness of causes of conflict across SSA.

outcomes of conflicts in Nigeria and Africa.

#### *Agricultural Production Amid Conflict: Implications for Africa's Regional Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86613*

conflicts, and territorial disputes; economic manifestations of conflict comprising general poverty and inequality, resource competition, unequal development, and market competition; and social manifestations of conflict including ethnic and communal conflict, youth unemployment, the situation of women, breakdown of social values, and psycho-cultural dispositions.

Varied and different as these contextually and ideologically driven accounts of conflicts in Nigeria and Africa seem, it is our argument that it would be an unsuccessful attempt at making any clear-cut differentiations at the level of causality in matters concerning conflicts in the region. Instead, from insights furnished by our study data and the findings they lead to, we argued that these shades of causes of conflict in Nigeria in particular and Africa at large are intricately interwoven so much that any attempts at understanding one must invariably make for understanding the rest. Even the IPCRFRN document earlier cited admits the intricate interconnectedness of causes of conflict across SSA.

*A particular conflict locale may exhibit the signs of more than one category (manifestation) of conflict The conflict in the Niger Delta, for instance, is an economic one (struggle for benefits derivable from an oil producing community), an ethnic/ communal one (the economic benefits…accrue to communities and the ownership of the land where the oil is located is therefore crucial to the enjoyment of benefits), a political one (political authorities must be those sympathetic to competing claims and all efforts to ensure that each party's candidate carries the day is put in), and one about traditional institution (the Urhobo and Ijaw contest of the claim of the Itshekiri to exclusive indigeneity of Warri and even the title of the paramount ruler of the Itshekiris as the Olu of Warri). Other conflicts in the country exhibit this multiple character trait. Actors in these multiple "battle fronts" are often the same [54].*

It is easy to see the evidence-based persuasion behind the conclusion on the interconnectedness of causes of conflicts in Africa underscoring also that economic development is often accompanied by violent ethnic conflict. In light of the foregoing, therefore, this study refuses to be glued to only one explanatory mode in tracking the micro (agricultural development) and more so the macro (overall regional development) causes and impact of conflict in Nigeria and Africa at large. Not even the selective, persuasive argument that "Of all forms of group conflicts, it would seem that ethnic conflicts have remained the most entrenched and intractable in Nigeria" [24] seems ideologically compelling enough to sway the findings of our study in that direction. At least for now, we note that all forms of conflict in Nigeria and Africa as a whole as anywhere else in the world produce one common feature: conflicts halt human activities; they lead to stagnation of economic performance; and they bring about breakdown of social order and political stability necessary for any societies to function well. As these and many other studies have argued, this study infers that social disintegration and economic decline are the most probable outcomes of conflicts in Nigeria and Africa.
