Displaced Farmers Perception of Resource-Use Conflicts as an Obstacle to Household Food Security and Food Safety in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Conflicts occasioned by different land users have become common place now. When farmers are displaced from their ancestral home due to conflicts involving pastoralists, life becomes difficult and unbearable. This paper investigated displaced farmers perception of resource use conflicts as an obstacle to household food security and food safety. A total of 300 displaced farmers were selected for interview and data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Result showed that conflicts create food shortage (M=3.43), destroy food stocks (M=3.57), disrupt production processes (M=3.28), reduced farm investment (M=3.19), among others. Again, during conflict situations, food items are easily contaminated with mean score of 3.27, foods are handled with dirty hands (M=2.58), unsafe water could be used to prepare food (M=3.31), outbreak of food borne illness (M=2.92), poor quality of food eaten (M=3.31), among other reasons. It is recommended that adequate food be supplied to the displaced farmers in the form of aid, water supply be provided to displaced farmers and health facilities put in place to handle case of illness and to avoid spread of illnesses.