Manufacturing scarcity: Understanding the causes of conflicts between farmers and herders in Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana
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Manufacturing scarcity : Understanding the causes of conflicts between farmers and herders in Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana. / Yeboah, Daniel Kojo Leon Brenya; Hansen, Christian Pilegaard; Abubakari, Abdulai; Doke, Adzo Dzigbodi.
In: African Security, Vol. 16, No. 2-3, 2023, p. 176-198.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Manufacturing scarcity
T2 - Understanding the causes of conflicts between farmers and herders in Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana
AU - Yeboah, Daniel Kojo Leon Brenya
AU - Hansen, Christian Pilegaard
AU - Abubakari, Abdulai
AU - Doke, Adzo Dzigbodi
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Farmer-herder conflicts are widespread in many parts of Africa. Scholars disagree on their causes. One strand associates conflict with absolute scarcities caused by for example population growth and climate change. Other scholars emphasize politically established scarcities: scarcities caused by policies, legislation, and development programs. This paper examines the causes of farmer-herder conflict in the case of Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana; an area that has suffered from severe conflicts for the past two decades. The study relies on documentary materials and interviews with 53 respondents representing all main agents with a stake in the conflict. The paper argues that absolute scarcity (population growth and climate change) may play a role in conflict, but the key driver of conflict is political. The paper shows how the traditional authorities have allocated land to outside cattle owners without effective institutions to guide cattle herding. This has created conflicts between traditional farming and new herding interests. The paper contributes to the literature on farmer-herder conflict and political scarcity by presenting a case where scarcity is not produced by state-led policies and interventions at large-scale but by local-level traditional authorities and small-scale enclosures.
AB - Farmer-herder conflicts are widespread in many parts of Africa. Scholars disagree on their causes. One strand associates conflict with absolute scarcities caused by for example population growth and climate change. Other scholars emphasize politically established scarcities: scarcities caused by policies, legislation, and development programs. This paper examines the causes of farmer-herder conflict in the case of Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana; an area that has suffered from severe conflicts for the past two decades. The study relies on documentary materials and interviews with 53 respondents representing all main agents with a stake in the conflict. The paper argues that absolute scarcity (population growth and climate change) may play a role in conflict, but the key driver of conflict is political. The paper shows how the traditional authorities have allocated land to outside cattle owners without effective institutions to guide cattle herding. This has created conflicts between traditional farming and new herding interests. The paper contributes to the literature on farmer-herder conflict and political scarcity by presenting a case where scarcity is not produced by state-led policies and interventions at large-scale but by local-level traditional authorities and small-scale enclosures.
KW - Access
KW - farmer-herder conflict
KW - land
KW - pastoralists
KW - political scarcity
U2 - 10.1080/19392206.2023.2251313
DO - 10.1080/19392206.2023.2251313
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85168908018
VL - 16
SP - 176
EP - 198
JO - African Security
JF - African Security
SN - 1939-2206
IS - 2-3
ER -
ID: 368724991