Abstract
The herdsmen/farmers’ violence in Benue State, Nigeria has constituted security challenges and could
have contributed to food insecurity as more than 2000 lives were lost in Nigeria and over 170,000 were
internally displaced in Benue state, a state tagged “food Basket of Nigeria”. The paper among others
examined the effects of the violence on food production in Benue State and Nigeria. It was descriptive
study that adopted mixed method, using quantitative and qualitative approaches by relying on secondary
data. The violence was negatively significantly correlated with sorghum production alone out of ten food
crops examined in Benue State (p<0>
relationship between food production in Benue State and Nigeria (p>0.05). Population growth was
significantly correlated with maize production only (p=0.023); agricultural budgetary allocation was
positively significantly correlated with rice production only (p=0.001). It concluded that food insecurity in
Nigeria was beyond herdsmen/farmers’ violence. It recommended modernization and transformation of
agriculture to increase food production and government should develop political will and be proactive in
confronting security challenges in an inclusive manner.
