Between the 14th & 15th of January, 2021, the Forum on Farmer-Herder Relations in Nigeria (FFARN), held its inaugural meeting for the year. FFARN is a forum where academics and practitioners exchange ideas on the farmer-herder crisis with a view to transforming the conflict to more manageable forms. Effort is also geared towards influencing relevant policies that could assuage the effect of the conflict on the populace.
The following are related Blog posts by me:
*Forum on farmer-herder relations in Nigeria (FFARN) dayokusa.blogspot.com/2017/11/forum-on-farmer-herder-relations-in.html
*Socio-ecological analysis of the farmer-herder crisis dayokusa.blogspot.com/2019/07/socio-ecological-analysis-of-farmer.html
*Farmer-herder relations in the Lake Chad and Western Sahel dayokusa.blogspot.com/2019/09/farmer-herder-relations-in-the-lake-chad.html
*Mediating natural resource conflicts in Africa dayokusa.blogspot.com/2019/09/mediating-natural-resource-conflicts-in.html
*Gender inclusive response to the farmer-herder crisis dayokusa.blogspot.com/2019/11/gender-inclusive-response-to-farmer.html
*Best practices forresolving the farmer-herder crisis dayokusa.blogspot.com/2020/02/best-practices-resolving-farmer.html
*Emerging trends & dynamics in the farmer-herder crisis dayokusa.blogspot.com/2020/11/emerging-trends-dynamics-farmer.html
Since the Covid-19 lock-down in the country last year, this is the first face-to-face meeting in almost a year! FFARN has however had many meetings via Zoom & Google Meet during the seeming 'hiatus'. Members of FFARN were excited to see one another after such a long time. There was loud exchange of banters and we had animated and fruitful discussions during the caucus meetings and the plenary sessions...
The online meetings held earlier were assessed and the impact/influence of the work of FFARN on the farmer-herder crisis was evaluated. I facilitated the session on the impact of FFARN. Some of the areas where FFARN has influence are as follows:
*The collaboration between scholars and practitioners has endured.
*The media summit held by FFARN has framed public opinion on the crisis in a more positive light.
*Many publications (Policy Briefs, Occasional Papers,' Explainers', Press Releases etc.) have been published under the auspices of FFARN.
*FFARN's Mentorship Programme for M.Sc & Ph.D students working on the farmer-herder crisis has produced highly rated theses that are the envy of the mentees' peers.
*Numerous publications on the farmer-herder crisis have emanated from scholars and practitioners in FFARN.
*FFARN memebers have been invited to speak at local and international fora - US Congress/British Parliament/ECOWAS/UNOWAS/AU...
*Some of FFARN's Policy Briefs have constituted Early Warning Signals (EWS) for farmer-herder conflicts in various parts of Nigeria, West Africa and indeed the Sahel.
*FFARN's evidence-based research has attracted global attention.
*FFARN's work has opened vistas for inter-agency collaboration with many organisations - CORAFID, IPSS, University of Ilorin, etc.
*FFARN regional convening has called attention to the fact that the farmer-herder crisis is a trans-national challenge.
*FFARN views all issues in the farmer-herder crisis in an unbiased and states-manly manner.
*Stakeholder Mapping by FFARN has led to strategic partnerships - Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), LG Chairmen, Office of the VP, Office of the Head of Service, etc.
*Security outfits like the NSCDD (which is a member of FFARN), now factor in the community-centred approach into programming.
*Many practitioners, by virtue of their association with academics via FFARN, now publish their experiences in the field!
The foregoing shows that FFARN has garnered considerable influence since its first meeting in August 2017. In view of the fact that the funding which has aided its operations from inception (provided by SFCG) is fast running out, members tinkered with the idea of registering FFARN with the CAC as an independent organisation. This is because FFARN has been evolving organically and at this stage of its evolution we need to re-think the structure, criteria for membership, etc. I am humbled by my nomination as a member of the Committee to come up with the specific modalities for the evolution of FFARN.
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