A Fight to Survive Without Justice, Empowerment and Security in the Pastoralist and Farmers Conflict in Benue State
(Wikimedia Commons)
By Tannuja Rozario and Alexandra Rojas
The farmers and pastoralist conflict in Benue State, Nigeria called the Fulani herdsmen violence has impacted many lives in an ongoing crisis of environmental devastation, fragmentation of families, and the loss of livelihoods because of the violence on both sides. As access to the land becomes limited due to population growth, deterioration of soil, and the governments’ neglect of land reserves, farmers and pastoralists now compete to survive.
Gender has become an important social organizing force as families develop strategies to survive. Gender roles are done, redone, and undone (West and Zimmerman 1987) as people negotiate and adapt to new gender roles during crises. In any conflict, the effects differ immensely for women and men. In order to examine the role of gender in conflict, we obtained information firsthand by conducting in-depth interviews with people who are impacted by the crisis, including those who are sheltered in internally displaced camps (IDPs) and activists who help to resolve the crisis as community members themselves.
These camps do not receive government resources; however, they do receive resources from international NGOs and local activists. According to a community member of the IDP camps, many of the people were displaced farmers with no income from the Guma local government area of Benue state and the Taraba and Nassarawa states. Their lives were shaken when their communities were destroyed in the competition for land among the pastoralists. They witnessed the death of loved ones and saw their houses burned down, left with no place to live. They also witnessed the gendered violence against men as they are killed and women as people are stripped of their reproductive autonomy and women and girls are kidnapped, raped and harassed. Gender is done by reinforcing the gender ideologies of men as fighters, while women’s bodies become bargaining powers to stop the lineage of a particular group during conflict.
These people believed that the conflict had different root causes: access to illegal armed weapons, different ethnic and religious values between pastoralists and farmers, lack of resources, and the anti-open grazing bill passed by the Benue state government. They called for better support through the enforcement of law and for the need to be the prosecution of law violators of gender-related laws. These laws also need to be gender-sensitive. Laws should realize the gender inequity between men and women and offer justice to all community members. These community members also think that in order to address women’s issues, there needs to be more training and business support in women’s ventures.
Activists from human rights-based organizations, such as Farmers and Traditional Rulers, and local women and youth leaders were also interviewed about their experiences and work during the farmers and pastoralist conflict. Some of the activists’ families and homes are directly impacted by the conflict. Due to little support from the government, activists are taking on the brunt of the work. They are overseeing the camps and resources within the affected communities. For example, they ensure that everyone has equal access to resources in the IDP camps and keep records of people who are living within these camps. They also search for medical resources to help people who sustained injuries, various illnesses, and infections. Activists and organizers on the local level are on the frontlines of redressing violence, providing resources, and empowering communities.
Activists argue that there needs to be more intervention from the State and international communities. The government in Benue State also needs to push for an open dialogue between the farmers and pastoralists to build peace with each other. Activists that are concerned that gender-based violence will continue to occur against women and girls because there is no justice and security. Moreover, activists urge the State to put more resources into the people who are impacted by the conflict, such as the reconstruction of homes, mental health support, health care, and basic necessities. Lastly, they urge policy makers to make more women-friendly laws and include the voices of women who are impacted by the conflict.
The farmers and pastoralist conflict is a fight for survival as people negotiate their gender roles to adapt and sustain the livelihood of their families from environmental neglect and disaster from the government and depleting resources. Over 90% of people in Benue State rely on agriculture for their livelihood and without access to land and sales from their farm produce, conflict will continue to happen. Women are faced with greater risks as they rely on these resources to provide for their families. Moreover, gender-based violence, displacement of families, and the splitting up of families are still ongoing. Both community members and activists are urging the international community, the Nigerian government, and local governments to provide more resources to ensure the survival of people during the conflict. There needs to be access to justice, empowerment, and security in order to survive.
