Documentation of Hausa Agricultural Terminology and Its Relevance to Modern Farming Practices in Jigawa State

Agricultural vocabulary embedded in the Hausa language reflects centuries of indigenous knowledge about crop cultivation, soil management, seasonal farming cycles, and livestock keeping. This study documents Hausa agricultural terminology in use among farming communities in Jigawa State and examines its relevance to modern farming extension communication. A descriptive ethnolinguistic research design was used, combining direct elicitation sessions with 120 experienced farmers, focus group discussions in three local government areas, and systematic observation of farming activities across wet and dry season cycles. Recorded terminology was transcribed, translated, and organised into semantic fields including land preparation, seed varieties, crop diseases, irrigation, harvesting, and post-harvest storage. The collected corpus was then evaluated by agricultural extension officers to assess the degree to which indigenous terminology aligns with or conflicts with technical vocabulary used in formal extension programmes. Findings reveal a rich vocabulary domain encompassing over 400 distinct agricultural terms, many of which encode ecological knowledge not captured in formal agronomic documentation. However, extension communication in Jigawa State largely bypasses indigenous terminology, creating comprehension barriers for farmers with limited formal education. The study argues that integrating Hausa agricultural terminology into extension materials and farmer training programmes would improve uptake of modern practices among Jigawa farmers. Recommendations include a state-level Hausa agricultural glossary project, collaboration between linguists and extension officers, and development of bilingual training materials. Keywords: Hausa, Agricultural terminology, Ethnolinguistics, Jigawa, Extension communication.