Conflicts and political intervention: Evidence from the anti-open grazing laws in Nigeria

Patrick Hufschmidt and Chukwuma Otum Ume

No 1009, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the effects of Anti-Open Grazing Laws (AOGLs) on herder-farmer conflicts in Nigeria. The laws, enacted as a response to escalating violent conflicts over fertile land resources between herders and farmers, aimed to reduce clashes by prohibiting livestock grazing in specific areas and periods. Our study employs a geographic difference-in-discontinuities design, leveraging the sharp change in legal conditions at state borders and the panel structure of our data. We integrate conflict data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) with spatially disaggregated microdata to analyze how AOGLs influence conflict incidence across regions of Nigeria. Our findings indicate limited effectiveness of AOGLs in curbing herder-farmer conflicts, suggesting instead a displacement of conflicts. It also appears that the laws have led to a slight increase in overall conflict within the states implementing them, arguably due to increased engagements between herder or farmer groups and security forces. These results underscore the need for more comprehensive, context-specific interventions to address the root causes of herder-farmer conflicts.

Keywords: Conflict; civil war; climate change; ethnicity; resource competition; herder-farmer conflicts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 N47 Q13 Q34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:1009

DOI: 10.4419/96973175

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