Hausa farmers in the village of 'Yardanko, who fought with nomadic herdsmen whose cattle had eaten their crops. Image by David Hecht. Nigeria, 2009.

For centuries, nomads from the Fulani ethnic group have driven their cattle across thousands of miles of African grazing lands, through countries including Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. But Nigeria is Africa's most populated country. And more and more land there is being used for food production.

In the far north of Nigeria, the situation has put farmers and nomads at odds with each other. David Hecht reports from the small village of Yardanko.

Listen to this story at World Vision Report.

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Twenty-five years ago Abdullahi Tijjani had a vision for Kuki, a village in the north of Nigeria he became chief of at age 14: "Hunger will become a thing of the past once we marry modern technologies and traditional farming," he told reporter David Hecht when they met in 1984 in the mud-brick structure he called his palace.
May 28, 2010 /
Students at School Without Walls explore the tension between financial insecurity and nutritional needs.
January 4, 2010 / PRI's The World
David Hecht
A generation ago, the African nation of Nigeria launched a plan to embrace modern farming. But today the country is more dependent than ever on imported food.