Abstract

Farmer-herder conflicts persist mainly from competing scarce resources. Different conflict management strategies abound, but little attention has been given to social capital to facilitate cooperation among conflicting parties. A survey of 194 farmers across four communities was conducted to investigate 'How does social capital facilitate cooperation among farmers and herders in the Sekyere Afram Plains District'’. The study revealed four significant social capital indicators, namely i) actors' interactions, ii) participation in decision-making, iii) worshipping together, and iv) trading fostering cooperation among farmers and herders. Similarly, bonding, bridging and linkages played key roles in managing conflict incidences; nevertheless, nine specific characteristics of the three facets of social capital significantly facilitate cooperation. Social events were the lead prioritized role, and engaging herders as farming labourers was the least mentioned by respondents. Collaboration, familiarity, and accessibility were identified as strengths of social capital. Still, the mixed composition of the ethnicity of communities weakened the authority and social relationships, coupled with the separation of social capital from the resources it offers were the identified challenges. Well-facilitated multi-stakeholder platforms could ignite the existing bonding, bridging and linkage characteristics in the local communities and beyond to foster cooperation and minimize farmer-herder conflicts.

Key words: Social capital, conflict, cooperation, farmer, herder, mitigation, sekyere afram plains district.