Increasing conflict between nomadic pastoralists and settled farmers are occurring across West Africa, due to issues of land availability and access. This study is the first detailed investigation of changes in land availability for nomadic pastoralists in Nigeria, where most conflicts occur. The study maps land use changes between cultivated and grazing land in three study areas surrounding Kano, the largest city in savanna Africa. Results indicate that grazing land availability decreased by 150 % and fallow land by almost 300 % in areas close to the city between 1980 and 2014, but at a much lower rate in distant areas despite massive growth in rural population. The lower loss of grazing land is attributed to the presence of grazing reserves in the most distant study area, as well as distance from the city. Spatial metrics analysis showed decreased connectedness between patches of grazing land due to farmland encroachment across traditional migration routes near to the city. Increased connectedness in the distant study area is attributed to the presence of grazing reserves acting as foci, connecting grazing with access to water. Government land policies should focus on creation of new, accessible grazing reserves and routeways away from large urban centres, accompanied by measures for soil and pasture improvement and digital tagging of livestock. Accompanying efforts to intensify agricultural production across Nigeria would deter further agricultural encroachment on grazing land. Since Nigeria’s GDP is the highest in Africa, but among the lowest in agricultural intensity, this should be possible.

由于土地供应和获取问题，游牧牧民和定居农民之间的冲突在西非发生了越来越多的冲突。这项研究是对尼日利亚游牧牧民土地可用性变化的首次详细调查，那里发生了大多数冲突。该研究绘制了非洲热带稀树草原最大城市卡诺周围三个研究区域的耕地和放牧地之间的土地利用变化。结果表明，在 1980 年至 2014 年期间，靠近城市的地区的可放牧地减少了 150%，休耕地减少了近 300%，但尽管农村人口大量增长，但在偏远地区的减少率要低得多。放牧地减少的减少归因于最远的研究区域存在放牧储备，以及与城市的距离。空间指标分析显示，由于农田侵占靠近城市的传统迁移路线，牧场之间的连通性降低。遥远研究区域的连通性增加归因于作为焦点的放牧储备的存在，将放牧与水源联系起来。政府的土地政策应侧重于建立新的、可进入的放牧保护区和远离大城市中心的道路，同时采取措施改善土壤和牧场以及对牲畜进行数字标记。伴随着在整个尼日利亚加强农业生产的努力将阻止农业对牧场的进一步侵占。由于尼日利亚的国内生产总值是非洲最高的，但农业强度最低，这应该是可能的。