Over 60 percent
of state GDP
Agriculture produces the majority of what the state earns.
Shabaru Climate Smart Farm Estate
A farm estate, farmer aggregation platform, and agro-processing hub in Jigawa State, built to keep more of the value of Northern Nigeria’s harvest close to the farms that grow it.
Approved and under way
The Jigawa State Government has approved 300 hectares for the estate, on the Gumel to Sule Tankarkar axis near Shabaru town.
That approval turns a land use plan into a site. It is the first milestone in a design that scales to 500 hectares of nucleus production, wrapped in a producer network and a processing hub.
The platform is not starting from zero. ADAB Agri-Resources has operated in Jigawa since 2021, has trained more than 30,000 farmers in climate smart agriculture, has cultivated over 250 hectares, and runs a warehouse and aggregation centre in Gumel.
300 hectares
approved by the Jigawa State Government
30,000+
farmers trained in climate smart agriculture since 2021
What Zero Bola does here
Shabaru is the field station between the campus greenhouse and the market.
Zero Bola holds no equity in Shabaru, and Shabaru is not a Catalyst venture. The relationship covers research, data, training, and the ventures that come out of it.
- Hectare scale trials for seed, soil, compost, and biofertilizer work that starts on campus
- Field data into the Atlas: soil fertility, crop performance, phenotyping, and estate waste streams
- Placements for Science Fellows, student researchers, and studio teams
- New ventures sourced from that data, with their intellectual property assigned to Zero Bola LLC
Illustrative pipeline: a sesame seed selection venture built on estate trial data, or a hibiscus biopesticide validated across estate plots.
Why Jigawa
Agriculture is not a sector in Jigawa. It is the economy.
Over 90 percent
of employment
Almost everyone who works in Jigawa works in or around farming.
About 30 percent
of arable land cultivated
Close to 2 million hectares are arable, and most of it is still idle.
Figures from InvestJigawa and the Jigawa State Agricultural Policy 2024 to 2030. State policy already prioritizes climate smart food systems, cluster farming, irrigation, mechanization, and post-harvest processing.
One estate, six engines
The estate creates control, the producer network creates scale, and processing protects the margin. Shared land, water, logistics, and market access keep the six running as one platform.
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Nucleus production
Sorghum, groundnut, sesame, and hibiscus grown on the estate under climate smart protocols.
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Farmer aggregation
A regional supply network feeding the Gumel hub, with weighing, grading, and moisture checks.
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Processing and feed
Groundnut oil and cake, cleaned and graded sorghum, and compound animal feed.
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Livestock integration
Feed use, manure recycling, and a pilot livestock line from Year 2.
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Agroforestry
A 100 hectare Paulownia pilot intercropped with sorghum and groundnut, with carbon readiness.
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Climate smart training
Demonstration plots, field days, and a showcase for partners and extension services.
Climate smart is a production system
Not a label on a bag. Four disciplines run across every hectare and every contract.
Productivity
Improved seed, mechanization, soil testing, crop protocols, and quality standards.
Resilience
Water management, drought aware planning, crop diversification, and agroforestry.
Mitigation
Tree integration, residue management, composting, and lower post-harvest losses.
Market adaptation
Storage, traceability, quality incentives, structured off-take, and processing.
The aggregation engine
Processing plants need steady feedstock, and export crops need quality discipline. Both start with a registered producer network.
- Registered producers, with crop focus, location, and acreage on record
- Lead farmers running field days, demonstrations, and peer learning
- Aggregation points for weighing, grading, moisture checks, and records
- Market linkage through procurement calendars, pricing, and buyer contracts
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Initial network
50,000 producers
The structured aggregation base the platform starts from.
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Target, Year 5
150,000 producers
Active producers supplying the estate and the processing hub.
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Long-term ambition
1 million producers
The regional network the model is designed to reach.
The land plan
Commercial production, processing infrastructure, farmer learning, and long duration agroforestry, deliberately allocated.
The approved first phase covers 300 of these hectares. Paulownia is intercropped with sorghum and groundnut in the early years.
| Use | Area |
|---|---|
| Sorghum | 120 ha |
| Groundnut | 120 ha |
| Paulownia agroforestry | 100 ha |
| Sesame | 60 ha |
| Hibiscus | 50 ha |
| Demonstration and seed | 25 ha |
| Hub and buffer | 25 ha |
Processing converts supply into margin
Raw commodities leave the state cheaply. Processed ones do not.
Groundnut
Oil and cake
Crushing capacity that turns harvest into oil for food markets and cake for feed.
Sorghum
Cleaned, graded, packaged
Quality grading that opens brewery, food, and export channels.
Animal feed
Compound feed
By-products become feed, and feed supports the livestock line on the estate.
How it is phased
Land readiness, water, crop establishment, and network growth come before full processing scale-up.
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Months 0 to 9
Readiness, land, and water
Approvals, site validation, and water and irrigation infrastructure.
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Months 6 to 18
Production and training
First estate crops under climate smart protocols, with demonstration and field days.
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Months 6 to 30
Aggregation and processing
Producer network scale-up, then commissioning of groundnut, sorghum, and feed processing.
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Month 18 onward
Livestock, carbon, and scale
Livestock pilot, Paulownia carbon readiness, and replication beyond the first estate.
Who runs it
Led by Dr. Adnan Aminu Adnan through ADAB Agri-Resources, with benches for technical, commercial, and delivery work.
Dr. Adnan Aminu Adnan
Chief Executive Officer
Agronomist and bio-science engineer, and Zero Bola's Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer.
Dr. Abdulwahab Shaibu
Chief Science Officer
Plant breeder with groundnut variety and seed development expertise.
Umar Ibrahim Moriki
Chief Operating Officer
Economist with banking, ICT, and 15 years in agricultural trading.
Abdulrahman Danbaba
Lead Agronomist
Extension, business development, and climate smart project guidance.
Governance runs on a monthly project dashboard, quarterly investor steering, and milestone linked drawdowns.
Like to work with us?
Founders, researchers, and operators: tell us what you are building.
Interested in a potential partnership?
Corporates, funders, and institutions: let’s scope it together.