**1. Introduction**

This chapter makes just one case running on the wheels of one argument, namely, that agriculture is the pillar of life for African communities. The fact of the irreplaceable place of agriculture in Africans' lives and African development makes it imperative to strive for a better understanding of all the conditions and factors that define and shape its functioning. This ideological posture in approaching this crucially important subject takes its rise from the fact that, agriculture, like all other human activities, functions in situated social conditions which, individually yet collectively, affect it in many and varied ways. Our take is that it is by subjecting this complex, urgently important subject to extensive ethnographic study that we can come as close as possible to the core of the matter. As such, what is undertaken here is an anthropological inquiry aimed at interrogating how conflict, in all its forms and manifestations, intersects with and impacts agricultural production in Africa and, above all, how it impedes African development. Honing in on Nigeria

as our case study site, the study aims at the generation of some body of scientific, evidence-based knowledge that contributes to the ongoing discourse on Africa's contemporary development. It is of importance to underscore at this point that this exercise is done not just for the purpose of understanding how conflict impacts agricultural production in general but specifically how this agriculture-conflict interface plays out in the region's socioeconomic and overall development.

In its expanded form, the argument sustaining this inquiry is anchored on the assumption that it can never become drab and trite and so cannot be overemphasized that agriculture is the life-wire of African communities. As such, this study is a proposal to the effect that every necessary step should and must be taken toward a much better understanding of how it functions in the context of the multistranded constellation of social, political, economic, cultural, institutional, natural, and/ or ecological conditions within which its activities are carried out. The pre- and post-independence economic history of Africa sides with, and evidently supports, the hypothetical assumption that African communities are predominantly agrarian, and that agriculture is something Africans co-evolved with for many millennia. Many scientific studies serve as ready-at-hand corroborating back-ups to support this public knowledge. Following Charles Darwin's firm belief that very important technological inventions and innovations rooted in the earliest histories of mankind owe their origins to Africa, archaeological historians have developed their theories around which they build the argument that modern day agriculture has its roots in Africa where it was originally invented. The foregoing is without prejudice to the fact that "At one time all the human beings in the world were hunters, gatherers and fishers, especially they were collectors of food not producers" [1]. Furthermore, "Until 10,000 years ago people everywhere were foragers" [2]. With the phase of nomadism gradually over in the evolution of Africa giving way to the development of settled communities, earliest Africans adapted to their environment to as far as developing the art of the domestication of some selected plants and animals, that is, cultivation and pastoralism. "This involved manipulating the reproduction of selected animals and plants, so that they were more suited to human requirements" [1]. Strikingly important about this is that it has also been argued that modern day African language has its foundations in these small and settled communities established thousands of years previously. In like manner, "The beginning of modern day history can be partly marked through the introduction and development of agricultural systems" [3].

The essence of factoring in these few points bordering on the archaeology of agriculture in Africa is to further underscore the importance of the region's agriculture economy as not only a means of survival in Africa but also as that which has continually played irreplaceable role in the life and development trajectory of Africa and its peoples on the one hand, and so constitutes a sector of life that must be protected from all incursions that are inhibitive of its progress and of African development, on the other. Even the buzzing nomenclatural wave of (African) *civilization* and all the contentious discourse around it is without merit outside the historical context of agriculture's role in that gradual development called civilization. This fact is especially with particular reference to the invention, improvement, and application of tools with which earliest Africans wrestled with and subdued their natural environment in the form of the domestication of certain plants and animals in their settled communities. This addition aims to make the case, again, that any and everything that stands in the way of agriculture and the role it plays in contemporary African development deserves close study attention as is intended and undertaken here.

Poised to make its case, this study appeals to available scientific data on the contribution of agriculture to the well-being of African nation-states soon after

**147**

and poverty experiences:

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

discourages and reduces outmigration especially among young adults.

Some other compelling reasons explain the urgency of this kind of field study; they also shed light on the relevance and merit of this undertaking. First among them, we observe that Africa is a region very easily and quickly associated with poverty and it correlates; this stands in sharp contrast to the fact that agriculture not only portends to reducing poverty and hunger but also has the ability to redirect and sustain Africa's development trajectory in different ways. In other words, we argue that it is troubling that Africa is well-disposed to attaining enviable heights in development but is at the same time associated with the ravages of hunger, poverty, and food insecurity among other social plagues as though these were the region's exclusive earmarks. This is more so the case when discussions focus on the sub-Saharan African (SSA) sub-continent characteristically noted for population increase outpacing food production per capita, which often leads to the region's high rate of food importation [10]. There are some available scientific studies that are used to support the assertions about Africa's telling poverty indicators. Among some of such instances, it has been argued that post-independence African nationstates have performed far below their development potential, which is part of the reason Africa is easily described as one of the poorest parts of the world. For, as recent as 2016, the continent was still identified as taking the largest pie in hunger

*There are large differences among continents in the prevalence of severe food insecurity. Approximately 27.4% of the population in Africa was classified as severely food insecure in 2016, which is almost four times as high as any other region. Alarmingly, food insecurity is on the rise, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. From* 

The above underscores the daunting challenges before the region in light of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals 2 (SDGs) created in 2016 by the United Nations. It is evidently clear that the situation, rather than improving, has been getting worse over the years. This is starkly real from previous studies on the same global poverty measures in which Africa was described as the "the poorest part of the world" [13], indeed, the "ultra poor of the world" [14]. Some other social taxonomies such as less developed, underdeveloped, backward continent, and

The foregoing points act as provocations to raise the question as to how agriculture could have lost its leading role in standing up to the assaults associated with poverty and underdevelopment in Africa. For, it is noteworthy that in the immediate post-colonial moments of African history, the region registered very impressive

*2014 to 2016, food insecurity increased by about 3% [11, 12].*

Third World are also used to refer to Africa's poverty indicators.

their independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We recall that, "In Africa 50 to 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and this rural population is predominantly peasant farmers. Agriculture accounts for about 40 percent of gross domestic product, 30 percent of exports, and 75 percent of employment" [4]. In addition to agriculture being the key provider of 90% of domestic food supply, which is thanks to the productive industry of smallholder rural farmers [5], other studies have documented that agriculture employs about 60% (or more) of the workforce [6, 7]. For the same reason of the primacy of place agriculture occupies in the life of African communities, it has been argued over time that any successful development plan in and for the region must target raising agricultural productivity in rural areas [8] which is considered a Green Revolution to raise food output [9]. For, in addition to minimizing hunger, poverty, and avoidable costly pecuniary value which the region wastes on food importation, we argue that emphasis on agriculture within and among African communities creates many jobs as it also

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

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

their independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We recall that, "In Africa 50 to 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and this rural population is predominantly peasant farmers. Agriculture accounts for about 40 percent of gross domestic product, 30 percent of exports, and 75 percent of employment" [4]. In addition to agriculture being the key provider of 90% of domestic food supply, which is thanks to the productive industry of smallholder rural farmers [5], other studies have documented that agriculture employs about 60% (or more) of the workforce [6, 7]. For the same reason of the primacy of place agriculture occupies in the life of African communities, it has been argued over time that any successful development plan in and for the region must target raising agricultural productivity in rural areas [8] which is considered a Green Revolution to raise food output [9]. For, in addition to minimizing hunger, poverty, and avoidable costly pecuniary value which the region wastes on food importation, we argue that emphasis on agriculture within and among African communities creates many jobs as it also discourages and reduces outmigration especially among young adults.

Some other compelling reasons explain the urgency of this kind of field study; they also shed light on the relevance and merit of this undertaking. First among them, we observe that Africa is a region very easily and quickly associated with poverty and it correlates; this stands in sharp contrast to the fact that agriculture not only portends to reducing poverty and hunger but also has the ability to redirect and sustain Africa's development trajectory in different ways. In other words, we argue that it is troubling that Africa is well-disposed to attaining enviable heights in development but is at the same time associated with the ravages of hunger, poverty, and food insecurity among other social plagues as though these were the region's exclusive earmarks. This is more so the case when discussions focus on the sub-Saharan African (SSA) sub-continent characteristically noted for population increase outpacing food production per capita, which often leads to the region's high rate of food importation [10]. There are some available scientific studies that are used to support the assertions about Africa's telling poverty indicators. Among some of such instances, it has been argued that post-independence African nationstates have performed far below their development potential, which is part of the reason Africa is easily described as one of the poorest parts of the world. For, as recent as 2016, the continent was still identified as taking the largest pie in hunger and poverty experiences:

*There are large differences among continents in the prevalence of severe food insecurity. Approximately 27.4% of the population in Africa was classified as severely food insecure in 2016, which is almost four times as high as any other region. Alarmingly, food insecurity is on the rise, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. From 2014 to 2016, food insecurity increased by about 3% [11, 12].*

The above underscores the daunting challenges before the region in light of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals 2 (SDGs) created in 2016 by the United Nations. It is evidently clear that the situation, rather than improving, has been getting worse over the years. This is starkly real from previous studies on the same global poverty measures in which Africa was described as the "the poorest part of the world" [13], indeed, the "ultra poor of the world" [14]. Some other social taxonomies such as less developed, underdeveloped, backward continent, and Third World are also used to refer to Africa's poverty indicators.

The foregoing points act as provocations to raise the question as to how agriculture could have lost its leading role in standing up to the assaults associated with poverty and underdevelopment in Africa. For, it is noteworthy that in the immediate post-colonial moments of African history, the region registered very impressive

*Regional Development in Africa*

agricultural systems" [3].

and undertaken here.

as our case study site, the study aims at the generation of some body of scientific, evidence-based knowledge that contributes to the ongoing discourse on Africa's contemporary development. It is of importance to underscore at this point that this exercise is done not just for the purpose of understanding how conflict impacts agricultural production in general but specifically how this agriculture-conflict interface plays out in the region's socioeconomic and overall development.

In its expanded form, the argument sustaining this inquiry is anchored on the assumption that it can never become drab and trite and so cannot be overemphasized that agriculture is the life-wire of African communities. As such, this study is a proposal to the effect that every necessary step should and must be taken toward a much better understanding of how it functions in the context of the multistranded constellation of social, political, economic, cultural, institutional, natural, and/ or ecological conditions within which its activities are carried out. The pre- and post-independence economic history of Africa sides with, and evidently supports, the hypothetical assumption that African communities are predominantly agrarian, and that agriculture is something Africans co-evolved with for many millennia. Many scientific studies serve as ready-at-hand corroborating back-ups to support this public knowledge. Following Charles Darwin's firm belief that very important technological inventions and innovations rooted in the earliest histories of mankind owe their origins to Africa, archaeological historians have developed their theories around which they build the argument that modern day agriculture has its roots in Africa where it was originally invented. The foregoing is without prejudice to the fact that "At one time all the human beings in the world were hunters, gatherers and fishers, especially they were collectors of food not producers" [1]. Furthermore, "Until 10,000 years ago people everywhere were foragers" [2]. With the phase of nomadism gradually over in the evolution of Africa giving way to the development of settled communities, earliest Africans adapted to their environment to as far as developing the art of the domestication of some selected plants and animals, that is, cultivation and pastoralism. "This involved manipulating the reproduction of selected animals and plants, so that they were more suited to human requirements" [1]. Strikingly important about this is that it has also been argued that modern day African language has its foundations in these small and settled communities established thousands of years previously. In like manner, "The beginning of modern day history can be partly marked through the introduction and development of

The essence of factoring in these few points bordering on the archaeology of agriculture in Africa is to further underscore the importance of the region's agriculture economy as not only a means of survival in Africa but also as that which has continually played irreplaceable role in the life and development trajectory of Africa and its peoples on the one hand, and so constitutes a sector of life that must be protected from all incursions that are inhibitive of its progress and of African development, on the other. Even the buzzing nomenclatural wave of (African) *civilization* and all the contentious discourse around it is without merit outside the historical context of agriculture's role in that gradual development called civilization. This fact is especially with particular reference to the invention, improvement, and application of tools with which earliest Africans wrestled with and subdued their natural environment in the form of the domestication of certain plants and animals in their settled communities. This addition aims to make the case, again, that any and everything that stands in the way of agriculture and the role it plays in contemporary African development deserves close study attention as is intended

Poised to make its case, this study appeals to available scientific data on the contribution of agriculture to the well-being of African nation-states soon after

**146**

economic growth performance to which agriculture was a major contributor to the GDP for the period 1965–1987. This historical fact is in spite of the intervening episodes of fall in output mainly due to drought especially in the Sahel countries of SSA [15] followed by hikes in oil prices and an increasingly adverse effect of international debt during the decade under reference [15]. However, in spite of the aforementioned drop, the contribution of the agriculture sector to the GDP of parts of the region ticked up a little again to 1.3% per annum for the period of 1980–1987, and rose even higher at the end of the decade resulting in an incremental growth rate of 2.1% between 1987 and 1990. Lamentably, these initial trends in growth thanks to the contribution of the region's agriculture sector soon tilted and faded away for various policy and other reasons.

We argue that among those other reasons, wars and incessant conflicts rampant across Africa often account more than any other for the consistent decline in the contribution of the region's agriculture economy to its overall economic development. While many contemporary social inquirers simply lament the general socioeconomic backwardness of Africa [16], this study rather stands with poised optimism and hope for improvement anchored on investing more in agriculture but only by simultaneously and consistently pushing back on everything associated with conflict as an arch enemy of the former. Thus, whereas there is overwhelming evidence in recent decades that Africa has not enjoyed economic and social progress like other parts of the world are doing, we argue that "Improvements within the sector can unlock the door to social and economic improvement. Indeed, agriculture must be the engine for the economic and social progress" [14] of the African region. We opine that all the efforts African governments and international bodies mount in recent times aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and general development of the region will not fructify in any meaningful degree if they fail to simultaneously craft socioculturally and politically appropriate, sustainable, and responsive conflict management toolkit.

The hallmark of our argument for this study runs thus: whatever stands in the way or swims against the current of agriculture in Africa is the arch enemy of African development. We contend that typical of such social snag in the way of agriculture and of African development is the social phenomenon of incessant intra- and inter-ethnic conflict. Unfortunately, rather than being scanty across the face of the continent, there are many such waves blowing across the region and eroding the development potential of African communities. More telling is the fact that often such conflicts that impede the progress of African communities and sometimes decimate them hide and operate in the hardly noticeable hinterland niches characteristically known for agricultural activities. This lends even greater and more compelling cogency as to why conflict in Africa must be given closer and sustained attention first, by examining its causes and detailed human and socioeconomic costs and, secondly by installing institutional mechanics toward abating it where and when it cannot be completely eradicated. These constitute the core aims of this study, which at the same time stand as its merits, contributions, and relevance.
