Understanding Food Security and the Failure of Agricultural Infrastructure in Nigeria: A Case of the Management of Herdsmen and Farmers

The dearth of agricultural infrastructure, coupled with serial killings spearheaded mostly by Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, etc, with attendant of food insecurity has been a major source of concern for the good people of Nigeria. It is against this backdrop, this study was carried out to understanding food security and the failure of agricultural infrastructure in Nigeria visa-vis the management of herdsmen and farmers. We adopted the historical design in analyzing the various concepts, drawing from the wealth of scholars who have made meaningful contributions to the subject matter. The Failed State theory, which is premised on 1. ability for the government to protect the lives and property of its citizens, 2. Defend its territorial integrity, 3. Provide public goods and services, etcetera was adopted as our ideological framework. Our data source includes, journals, publications, seminar papers, term papers, and the internet. Our findings include the following: that there is a dearth in agricultural infrastructure in Nigeria; that the discovery of oil which was supposed to bring about even development on all sectors, has put the country's economy on a monopolist lane, whilst other sectors especially agriculture has drastically reduce; that the Nigerian government has failed in many regards, thereby putting a question mark on its sovereign status; that failure to clearly state the rules of engagement on grazing is part of the reason for the Fulani herdsmen clashing with farmers; and government failure in providing infrastructures for farmers especially in the rural areas is a major reason for food insecurity. In conclusion, we recommended the following; government's deliberate effort by partnering with relevant security agencies and government (both internationally and local) in addressing the security issues; provisions of infrastructures and incentives to farmers to help subsidized their cost; setting up a peace keeping committee of experts, and wealthy men to ensure that the goal of the intervention reaches the interiors, promulgation of open grazing laws and ensuring that state governments allocated specific areas to normads, after getting their bio-data for security considerations.