From garden to market: Kaduna's women farmers are feeding families
Onions, okra, cabbage and carrots are lifting household incomes, helped by free fertiliser for 150,000 smallholders.
Zaria — Across Kaduna State, women are turning small plots into steady income, and many are among the main beneficiaries of Governor Uba Sani's free fertiliser programme, now in its third year and aimed at 150,000 smallholder farmers in all 23 local government areas.
The farmers
- Maria Kabiru of Bomo village started with seeds and training from the East-West Seed Foundation's Deliver Nigeria project. She grew cabbage, then onions, and now leads a women's farming group.
- Fatima Mohammed of Koraye began after national youth service when no job came. She is in her fifth year growing onions in both seasons.
- Mariya Nasiru-Ibrahim is one of the biggest okra sellers in Bomo.
- Hannatu Adamu has grown carrots for five years; they improved her family's nutrition after her youngest child suffered malnutrition.
- Asabe Daniel of Wusasa grows soya beans and tomatoes and wants to process tomatoes into packaged products.
The support behind them
Extension workers from NAERLS at Ahmadu Bello University train women's groups in Zaria, Giwa and Sabon Gari in vegetables, climate-smart farming, pest control and small business. Zaria alone has more than 30 women's groups of 25 to 50 members each.
Agriculture provides about 38% of Kaduna's GDP. Commissioner Murtala Dabo said the state is working to widen women's access to land, since few women own farmland on their own.
Source: Premium Times, 25 October 2026.
