Kano farmers narrate benefits of agricultural intervention project

"With the proceeds from the business, I was able to complete my Higher National Diploma (HND) in Animal Husbandry."

Beneficiaries of an agricultural intervention programme in Kano State say the project led to many positives, including increased yields and higher profits for farmers and agripreneurs.

They spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday during a ceremony marking the closure of the first phase of the Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP).

The five-year project, implemented by the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), was designed as a multifaceted initiative to enhance food security, alleviate poverty, create employment opportunities, and mitigate conflict.

Funded with $95 million by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), the project spans several sectors, including livestock, irrigation, infrastructure, and crop productivity—the latter of which was implemented by the SAA.

Akibu Safiyanu, who lives with a disability, described his journey from struggling to find capital after his diploma to becoming a local agricultural expert in the Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area.

“In the beginning, I struggled to buy even one or two pieces of agrochemicals. I didn’t have a shop; I used to take cover at nearby shops whenever it rained, but when I enrolled in the KSADP intervention, everything changed.” Mr Safiyanu said.

Through the programme, Mr Safiyanu received technical training, a dedicated kiosk, and an initial stock of agrochemicals.

“With the proceeds from the business, I was able to complete my Higher National Diploma (HND) in Animal Husbandry. I am now an expert in the field, and dozens of local farmers rely on my services,” he said. “If not for this intervention, I might have been forced into begging due to my condition.”

Laraba Muhammad, a farmer from the Kura Local Government Area, said the programme rescued her from financial loss.

“We were trained in modern, climate-smart agricultural practices and have now become master trainers ourselves,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mrs Muhammad now produces nutrient-dense meals for children and was empowered with a tricycle for her business.

Empowering women and youth

The Project Coordinator, Abdulrasheed Hamisu, highlighted the project’s heavy investment in crop yields and the empowerment of vulnerable groups.

According to Mr Hamisu, the project provided 370 agro-input stockists and 168 milling machines distributed across the 44 Local Government Areas.

“Others are 397 rice parboiling kits and nine rice parboiling enterprise centres for women, 75 tomato processing enterprises, 107 groundnut oil extractors, and 91 onion storage facilities to reduce spoilage, among others,” Mr Hamisu said.

The Country Director of the Sasakawa Africa Association, Godwin Atser, noted that the project was launched in 2020 to address critical challenges like low productivity and weak extension systems.

The results, he stated, have been transformative. Yields increased, and major crops saw productivity rise between 150 per cent and 226 per cent.

Mr Atser said post-harvest losses reduced significantly by 51 per cent, and farmers’ incomes improved to an average of ₦972,462 per hectare.

He said over 477,284 farmers were reached with best practices, and 100,000 women and youth were integrated into agribusiness.

As the SAA concluded its implementation of the first phase, Mr Atser urged the Kano State Government to sustain the project.

He mentioned the lessons learnt from the project, which included the importance of market orientation, the value of bundled interventions, the centrality of strong public institutions, and the need for flexibility and adaptive management.

The project

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how the project contributed to bumper harvests for many farmers in Kano State, with experts saying it is an example of how collaboration between the government and the private sector can improve the lives of farmers and contribute to food sustainability in Nigeria’s most populous state.

“The size of the farm is 0.5 (half a hectare), which I used to harvest 20 to 25 bags of paddy rice. After the training and mentorship, I harvested 38 bags of paddy in the same farm,” Mrs Muhammad told PREMIUM TIMES last year.
Another beneficiary, Aminu Bakanike, said he got 62 bags of maize seedlings from a hectare of land after getting all the required seedlings, fertiliser, pesticide, and other inputs for free.

“Previously, I harvested a maximum of 27 bags,” the farmer said last year.

With the first phase of the project now complete and Saskawa exiting as a partner, the state government moved to allay the concerns of farmers in the state.

Bashir Sanusi, permanent secretary at the Kano State Ministry of Agriculture, assured stakeholders that the state has developed a comprehensive plan to sustain and scale the systems and partnerships established under the KSADP.

The overall objective of the KSADP is to contribute to reducing poverty and strengthening food and nutrition security in the state by developing agro-pastoral production systems.

The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), which has been operating in Nigeria for 36 years, partnered with the Kano State government in 2020 to implement the crop value chain of the project, worth about $19.3 million.

The primary mandate of SAA was to support 450,000 direct beneficiaries across the 44 local government areas of Kano State. The farmers supported were those growing cereals, such as rice, maize, millet, and sorghum, as well as vegetables like tomatoes, onions, and cabbage.