In the colonial period the railway reached Kano in 1911, and northern farmers began growing groundnuts (peanuts) for export. By the mid-20th century sacks of groundnuts were stacked in huge pyramids outside Kano to await rail shipment to the coast, a sight that became an icon of northern Nigeria.
The trade faded from the 1970s. Severe drought, plant disease, the oil boom and a shift of public spending away from farming all played a part. The pyramids are gone, but groundnuts remain important in Hausa life, from farm to kitchen.
One famous product links the old and the new: kilishi, thin sun-dried beef coated in a paste of groundnut and spices (yaji) and dried again. It is sold in markets across Nigeria and is often described as a Hausa answer to jerky.
Sources for this article
- Unsigned overview (n.d.), section “The Groundnut Pyramids and Post-Colonial Shifts” and “Culinary Heritage: The Kilishi Phenomenon” (outline; export-share figures not repeated)