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— Project dossier
Resilience Building and Smallholder Farmers Support Project in Northwest Nigeria
FCDO / World Food Programme (WFP)
- Status & duration
- Active · September 2025 – ongoing
- Location
- Sokoto (Kware & Wamakko LGAs) and Katsina (Batagarawa & Katsina LGAs)
- States
- Sokoto, Katsina
Jafaro Baro now harvests cabbage twice in the time it once took to grow one crop
Case study overview
A multidimensional approach to the interconnected challenges facing smallholder farmers: farmer-led irrigation development (FLID), access to farming inputs and market systems, community-managed assets and non-farm income streams, with a phased exit strategy that leaves community-owned systems behind. Two farmers service hubs, Noma Tushen Arziki in Wamakko and Gidan Arziki in Batagarawa (commissioned 27 April 2026), now run as community enterprise centres.
Key interventions & deliverables
- Cash-based transfers (₦75,000) as a safety net and seed capital for small businesses.
- Improved seeds, fertiliser and Good Agronomic Practice training for dry-season farming.
- Village Savings and Loan Associations, bank account linkage and NIMC registration.
- Noma Tushen Arziki Hub (Wamakko) and Gidan Arziki Farmer Service Centre (Batagarawa), plus the AgriFMIS digital farmer registry.
- Gidan Arziki: agro-processing and groundnut oil extraction, cold room, charging station, car wash, tool rental and a sewing business incubator (30 trainees).
- Community Facility Management Committee of 20 members (12 male, 8 female) and a reconstructed modern slaughterhouse in Batagarawa.
- Reached 1,657 female-headed households (29.1%) and 1,384 people with disabilities (24.2%); 70% of households received smallholder farmer support and 30% cash-based transfers (see the fact sheet).
Headline impact
5,700 households reached directly and 37,050 household members indirectly across 42 wards; Gidan Arziki earned ₦1,075,365 in April 2026 (₦486,995 profit).
Stories from this project
- Magazine · 15 May 2026Empowering Communities Through Innovation, Skills & Livelihood Support (Magazine Vol. 2)The Gidan Arziki Impact Magazine: how the Farmers Service Hub in Batagarawa, Katsina State, became a community enterprise centre for women, youths and smallholder farmers.
- Magazine · 15 March 2026Cultivating Resilience: A New Harvest in Northwest Nigeria (Magazine Vol. 1)A special feature on the FCDO-funded Resilience Building and Smallholder Farmers Support Project, implemented by Life Helpers Initiative and WFP across Sokoto and Katsina States.
- News · 27 April 2026Katsina Deputy Governor Commissions the Gidan Arziki Farmers Service Hub in BatagarawaOn 27 April 2026, Deputy Governor Faruk Lawal Jobe commissioned the Gidan Arziki centre, the second farmers service hub under the FCDO-funded resilience project.
- Success Stories · 14 May 2026Finding Purpose at 70: Arajana SuleimanInsecurity had cut a 70-year-old mother of eight off from her farmland. At the Gidan Arziki centre she found safe work, income, new skills and better health.
- News · 12 May 2026Voices from Batagarawa: Government and Community Leaders on the Gidan Arziki HubThe Katsina State Irrigation Development Authority, the District Head of Batagarawa and the LGA Chairman describe what the partnership is changing.
- News · 10 May 2026A Modern Slaughterhouse Enhances Hygiene and Community Wellbeing in BatagarawaReconstructed beside the Gidan Arziki hub, the slaughterhouse replaces informal slaughtering with a safe, hygienic and well-regulated facility.