Geospatial Pattern of Resource Conflict Between Farmers and Herdsmen in Benue State Nigeria

Despite that locations and time of crime is quite important in arresting the problem of crime. There are still sparse literatures on spatial pattern of farmers and herdsmen conflict in Benue State, Nigeria. Resource conflict map of Benue state is currently not in existence; thus, this study was designed to bridge this gap. The objectives of this study were to assess the occurrence of resource conflict between farmers and herdsmen in Benue state; assess the death casualty in each LGA and produce maps of resource conflict occurrence and casualties from 2010-2019. Data were collected from secondary sources such as report of Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria watch data base and Newspapers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic and GIS technique and presented in tables. Result shows that resource conflicts have occurred sixty-eighty (68) times in a decade and have claimed two thousand and fifty-three (2053) lives in seventeen (17) LGAs. Resource conflicts are highest in Agatu followed by Guma, Logo, Gwer-West and Makurdi Local Government Areas. It was concluded that both occurrence and casualty are higher in the upper Benue. It was however recommended that further study should be conducted on the factors that are responsible for higher incidence of resource conflict between farmers and herdsmen in the upper Benue.