What started as a small agricultural intervention has now blossomed into a statewide transformation, reviving rural businesses, empowering women, and turning struggling farmers into proud owners of thriving agro-enterprises.
Across Kano State, the voices are the same: “This project changed our lives.”
Farmers and agripreneurs in the state have continued to hail the Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Project and Sasakawa Africa Association (KASDP–SAA), sponsored by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), as the most significant agricultural intervention seen in decades.
During Saturday’s Media Field Day (MFD), they offered moving testimonies of how the project dramatically improved their income levels, expanded their businesses, and reshaped their communities.
“We have been in this business for the past twenty years, but this particular intervention stands tall among all the community initiatives brought to Kano State,” said Mr. Mustapha Jobe from Bichi LGA.
As a milling machine beneficiary, Jobe explained that the support he received has multiplied his fortunes and completely changed his economic future. Early this year, he was given two milling machines, but today, his operation has expanded.
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“Before the initiative, we could only mill three bags of grains,” Jobe said. “But now the story differs—we are now a small-scale industry with three machines instead of the two we were given.”
“With pride in his voice, he revealed how far the profits have carried him. “I was privileged to go for pilgrimage and bought a car, all with the profit accumulated here,” he said, calling the impact “unimaginable.”
The installation of the machines has also become a blessing to the wider Jobe community. “We render services at half the price others charge, N4,500 instead of N11,000,” he said. “Of all the recent projects, KASDP–SAA stands out unique and more uplifting.”
Engineer Sadiq, who oversees the nutritional vegetable component of the initiative, noted that the project recently distributed 150 agricultural entrepreneurial machines across the state.
According to him, the goal is to strengthen rural agribusinesses, reduce losses, and increase food security through mechanisation and innovation.
Women farmers are also rewriting their narratives. In Bichi town, the “Bichi Aminci” Women Farmers Association has emerged as one of the shining examples of how rural women can thrive when supported.
Their leader, Hajiya Rakiya Abdullahi, said the women joined the initiative with determination, and it paid off. “Our persistence and resilience in agriculture increased our chances of joining the project,” she said. “Now our target is to acquire a farm of our own and begin large-scale, mechanised farming.”
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Through the profits from a tricycle provided by the project, the group now runs a small but efficient community microcredit service. “We use the money we make from the tricycle to distribute capital to our members and even other community members,” she explained.
“They return an agreed amount weekly. It’s helping us grow.” She added that the project trained them in modern farming techniques, covering both cash and food crops, boosting their output and farming confidence.
From Bichi, the media team travelled to Dambatta, where the transformative impact continued. There, they met Mr. Isah Bala, the proud initiator of a 12-member farmer group called “Noma Aiki.”
Bala, a beneficiary of a combine harvester, described how the equipment revolutionised their productivity overnight. “Before the KASDP initiative, we could only harvest six bags of rice in a day,” Bala said. “But today, we harvest eleven bags within a short time and with far less stress.”
The income boost is equally dramatic. “Using the harvester, we make up to N700,000 a day, albeit charging less from community members,” he added, describing the project as the catalyst for growth the community had long prayed for.
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Saturday’s Media Field Day marked the end of the week-long tour across Kano North, covering Bagwai, Bichi, and Dambatta LGAs.
Journalists, project officials, and community leaders witnessed firsthand how the KASDP–SAA project, after five years of implementation, has become a beacon of hope for rural farmers seeking sustainable livelihoods.
As KASDP–SAA winds down, one message echoes across Kano’s farming communities: this intervention has improved incomes and restored dignity, empowerment, and opportunity.
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With testimonies of doubled and tripled harvests, affordable services, women-led financial systems, and thriving agro-enterprises, the project stands as a model for agricultural transformation in Nigeria.
Beneficiaries said the impact will live on for generations, proof that with the right support, rural communities can rise, thrive, and redefine their future.