Determinants of the risk perception of farmer–herder conflicts: evidence from rural Nigeria
International Journal of Social Economics
ISSN: 0306-8293
Article publication date: 5 April 2022
Issue publication date: 15 July 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social, economic and demographic determinants of rural households' risk perception of farmer–herder (FH) conflicts in Nigeria. The paper also investigates two aspects of FH conflict risk perception relating to food production and physical insecurity.
Design/methodology/approach
A FH conflict risk perception model is constructed and tested using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), ordinary least squares (OLS) and seemingly unrelated regression equation (SURE) models. The study uses cross-sectional data from 401 rural households in Nigeria.
Findings
Results show that in addition to economic determinants like farm size, land ownership and crop diversity, socio-demographic variables like age and number of languages spoken are significant predictors of household risk perception of FH conflict. Second, although gender and frequency of FH conflict have no significant effect on the risk perception of FH conflict, there is a significant moderating effect of frequency of FH conflicts on the influence of gender on the risk perception of FH conflict. Third, findings also highlight the important predictors of the risk perception of FH conflicts relating to food production and physical insecurity.
Originality/value
Findings give insight into policies targeted at influencing the risk behaviour of rural households. This is important to aid the development of efficient risk management initiatives.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is part of a doctoral thesis funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand (No: 10.13039/501100001519).
Conflict of interest: None
Citation
Nnaji, A. (2022), "Determinants of the risk perception of farmer–herder conflicts: evidence from rural Nigeria", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 49 No. 8, pp. 1172-1194. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-10-2021-0578
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited