Kano- Nigeria- Hawwa Muhammadu Adamu, a 48-year-old mother of seven from Bichi town in Kano, Nigeria, gets up at the first streaks of dawn to look after her expanding small business. Glimpses of hope pervaded her life when she saw the growth of   her Income Generating Activity and the benefits she is yielding from it to provide for her siblings. Born into a farming family, she, like many women in her community, plants groundnut in her backyard and mills it to sell the oil. She also makes Kuli, a local cookie, from the residue to sell for extra income. But she had no idea that groundnut could be processed to make nutritious food and increase her income.

Fortunately, with the help of the Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) and its intervention through training on nutrition and improved family income, Hawwa’s life has been transformed. Funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and LLF, KSADP has trained 5,280 women, mainly farmers, from 25 exclusively women groups in Kano to process locally harvested crops for nutritious foods and income generation.

Hawwa shares her experience, saying, “Honestly, hitherto, I used to extract oil from the groundnut and sell the oil. The residue is then baked into Kuli and sold to get something. The money I make is small, Alhamdulillah! But it can help in buying few things.”

After the training, Hawwa learned how to prepare nutritious food from the farm produce she had been growing for years. “They taught us the nutritional and economic potential of groundnut pap, soyabeans blended with millet, soya drink, snacks and so on. We were made to understand that these farm produce can actually be processed to make affordable gruels and other edible stuff.”

Thanks to the training, Hawwa’s income has increased significantly. “I sell about N10, 000 worth of awara monthly, but on the average, I sell that of N16, 000 now. There is progress and this has helped me to contribute more to housekeeping. For simple family needs, I do not wait for my husband and I am sure this is the case with my colleagues.”

In addition to learning about nutrition and income generation, Hawwa and other women were also educated on personal and food hygiene, making their products more acceptable in local stores. She says, “We and the children consume these foods to be healthy. Unlike before, the children are healthier. They hardly fall sick nowadays, except for Malaria. The Islamic Development Bank and the LLF that funded this training are good institutions, alhamdulillah.”

Hawwa’s success is just one example of how KSADP and IsDB are changing lives and empowering women farmers in Kano. Through the legumes value chain intervention, the project has trained women to process locally harvested crops for nutritious foods and income generation. The project has also helped women form savings groups, known as adashi, to support each other and contribute to their families’ needs.

The impact of the project is far-reaching, improving the nutrition and health of families and increasing women’s income and economic independence.

The success of this project is proof of the power of partnerships and the impact of investing in women’s empowerment and sustainable development. It is a testament that when women are given the tools and resources they need, they can make a significant difference in their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

Hawwa and her peers are, now, aspiring to continue improving their livelihoods and to be agents of change in their community.