Nigeria — Transhumance Tracking Tool Report — Early Warning Dashboard #15 (July 2023)

In northern Nigeria and other Sahel regions, the escalation of hostility and violent conflicts between transhumant herders and farmers are linked to several key factors. One of the main contributors is the competition over natural resources, which is exacerbated by the low rainfall, insecurity, insurgency, growing population and the attendant land-intensive demands for both farming and transhumance activities. Additionally, year-round farming and the conventional methods of land allocation to farming and herding activities add to the tensions, as farmers may encroach on designated grazing areas and routes, and herders in turn resort to destructive practices such as trespassing on farmlands, causing crop destruction and polluting water sources to feed their cattle. These factors sometimes result in deadly conflicts.

To better understand trends in transhumance movements, assess impact of conflicts and mitigate the transhumant herders and sedentary farmers conflicts, the Transhumance Tracking Tools (TTT) as a component of the IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and supported by a network of community key informants, operationalised the Early Warning System in the selected 9 LGAs in the adjoining states of Adamawa and Taraba. The triangulated 287 alerts were those that are linked to events or massive/unexpected transhumance movements that resulted from farmers-herders conflicts in the two states (7 and 2 LGAs of Adamawa and Taraba state respectively).