Herder-Farmer Conflict and Issues of Sustainable Development in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State

The context of this paper discusses the brunt of herder-farmer conflicts on sustainable development in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue state. This conflict, which overwhelms different communities in Agatu LGA, had in recent time resulted to killings of over 5500 natives and destruction of properties worth millions of naira. This paper examines the causes of resources conflicts between the two occupational groups in Agatu LGA. This is to assess the outcome of this resources conflict between herder-famer on sustainable development in Agatu LGA. Data for this paper, which were drawn from both primary and secondary sources; rely on groups’ discussions and structure interviews with the key actors namely: local authorities, traditional rulers, religious leaders, Fulani pastoralists, farmers and library respectively. The historical analyses were also analyzed via content analysis. The paper reveals that Farmers- herder conflicts affect food security, internal revenue and qualities education of warring communities in Agatu LGA. These however, depleted sustainable development in Agatu area. The study recommends that government should come up with policies to create grazing reserves and dams for pasture in north-central states. This is with the view to prevent pressure on the limited resource and avoiding straying distances in search of pastures. Key words: Herder, Farmer, Conflict and Sustainable development