Prospects of community-based structures and edutainment for farmer-herder peacebuilding in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract Farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria threaten rural livelihoods, with Oyo State emerging as a hotspot driven by resource competition, climate-induced migration, and weak land-use governance. Managing this conflict directly affects SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). This study assessed conflict dynamics and the potential of edutainment and community-based peacebuilding. We analysed 148 household surveys, nine focus group discussions (81 participants), and seven key informant interviews using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and OLS mediation regression with bootstrapped indirect effects. Radio, mobile phones, and WhatsApp were key edutainment tools, though language barriers, infrastructure gaps, and gendered access limited reach. Community-based structures have improved farmer-herder communication, yet social integration (52.0%), peace-readiness (54.7%), and peaceful predisposition (55.4%) remained low. Herders showed significantly stronger social integration (t = −4.34) and peaceful predisposition (t = −6.96) than farmers. Edutainment exposure predicted peace-readiness ( β  = 0.2066). However, peace-readiness alone did not directly predict peaceful predisposition; rather, social integration mediated the effect of edutainment (indirect effect ab  = 0.0793, 95% BCa CI [0.0041, 0.1855]) in shaping predisposition. Community structures positively predicted peace-readiness ( β  = 0.9959) overall, but the interaction with herder identity revealed a negative effect on peaceful predisposition ( β = −1.5933), indicating that current mechanisms may be less inclusive for herders. Being female ( β = − 0.4607) and prior conflict exposure ( β = − 0.3360) negatively predicted social integration. Further, conflict experience predicted peaceful predisposition negatively ( β = − 0.2406). Integrating edutainment with inclusive community-driven mechanisms offers a complementary pathway for rebuilding trust and sustaining long-term peace, thereby advancing sustainable development at local and national levels.