ABSTRACT
This study was designed to assess the effects of 2011 post- election violence on livelihoods of farm households in Samaru Kataf Agricultural Zone of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, identify the livelihood sources of the respondents, establish the perception of the farmers on the causes of the post election violence and determine the effect of the post-election violence on the agricultural activities and income of the farmers. Multi-stage sampling procedure, involving purposive and simple random sampling techniques, was employed in selecting 300 farmers used for the study. Primary data were collected with the aid of a well structured questionnaire and analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The likert scale was used to measure the perception of the people on the causes of the violence while the Z-test statistic was used to determine the effect of the violence on livelihood. Findings indicate that 67% of the respondents were male, while majority (82%) were married with about half (53%) of them having a household size range of 6-10 persons. Majority (90%) of the respondents had one form of formal education or the other, and 50% of them had farming as their major source of livelihood. About 40% of the respondents were of the opinion that corruption was the major cause of the post election violence, while 30% of the respondents claimed insecurity was responsible for the violence. About 60%, 67% and 60% of the respondents had their input supplies, hiring of labour and selling of farm produce negatively affected, respectively. The negative effects on input purchase, hiring of labour and selling of farm produce were caused by the destruction of agro-allied shops, fear of insecurity by the labourers and fear of being killed at market areas, respectively. The annual mean income of the respondents (N290733.30) was seen to be lower than their theoretical mean income (N361360.70). This implies that the respondents‟ incomes fell below what was expected of them. The value obtained was significant at one percent (1%), which implies that the post election violence had a significant effect on the income of the farmers. Government should do all it can to fight corruption especially those related to electoral irregularities and provide adequate security for the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria at large. Also, government should locate these communities and see how they can be assisted financially to enable them recover quickly from their losses so that they can give their best again to agriculture which is their major occupation. Keywords: post-election, violence, corruption, insecurity, livelihoods
