The fire crackles beneath an iron pan balanced on clay walls. Inside the small bakery, the air is dense with smoke, the heat almost unbearable. Women move quickly, flipping flat rounds of dough into the oven and pulling out Kano’s beloved Gurasa bread. Sweat streaks down their faces as they stretch their arms toward the flames.
For generations, Gurasa has been a staple of life in northern Nigeria – simple, affordable, and nourishing. But behind this bread lies a hidden struggle: health risks, climate injustice, and survival in the margins of the economy.
In the words of Zainab Bala, the project supervisor, “I used to think I was a hustler until I met these women. They do so much, and yet they make so little out of it.”
Smoke in Their Lungs; Heat on Their Backs
The Yau Gurasa documentary, released under the Muryarta Araya Muhalli project, does not only celebrate bread. It reveals the invisible burden borne by women who keep the trade alive.
The smoke inside these bakeries is toxic. Firewood the dominant fuel releases carbon monoxide, fine particles, and greenhouse gases that harm both lungs and climate.
“The smoke they inhale every day doesn’t just stay in their lungs. It contributes to warming the planet. Yet most of these women don’t even know they’re part of a climate story, they just know they need to survive.”
— Hadiza Shettima, Climate Advocate
Medical experts warn that exposure to household air pollution causes millions of premature deaths globally every year, with women in Northern Nigeria among the most at risk.
Climate Change in the Kitchen
The ovens of Kano are not just local they are global. The demand for firewood fuels deforestation, worsens desertification, and intensifies the heat waves already plaguing northern Nigeria.
“We cannot talk about climate action without talking about women’s health. If they are the ones breathing the smoke, enduring the heat, and still expected to feed their families, then justice must mean giving them safer alternatives.”
— Ifeoluwa Gbolahan, Oxfam Nigeria
Why Firewood Still Rules
If the dangers are so great, why do Gurasa bakers still use firewood? The answer is simple: it is cheap, accessible, and strong enough to sustain traditional ovens. Clean cookstoves and LPG alternatives exist, but adoption has been slow due to costs, lack of awareness, and cultural resistance.
Fatima Mohammed, a climate advocate says
“You cannot tell a woman to stop using firewood if you don’t give her the tools to keep feeding her family in another way.”
Blessing Ekwere of Sustyvibes Abuja adds:
“Clean cookstoves cost money. Awareness campaigns rarely reach them. Even when they know, they’re skeptical because tradition and necessity are powerful.”
More Than Bread: Environmental Fallout
The Gurasa trade contributes to wider ecological challenges:
Deforestation from firewood harvesting.
Water contamination from untreated bakery waste.
Soil degradation from overexploited land.
Air pollution from burning oil and kerosene.
However, Malam Shettima considers it all with optimism:
“The bread is small, but its impact is large. If we continue business as usual, the cost will be far greater than anyone imagines.” he says
The Road to Solutions
Yau Gurasa became a forum for ideas as stakeholders called for action that is both urgent and inclusive:
Expand access to clean cookstoves and alternative fuels.
Create micro-credit schemes for women bakers.
Roll out awareness campaigns tailored to local contexts.
Enforce policies on firewood harvesting and renewable energy.
Involve women directly in designing interventions.
Zainab Bala further added “We push for climate justice by telling stories like this. Until you see these women, you don’t understand what climate injustice looks like up close.”
Bread as Identity, Bread as Hope
Gurasa is more than food. It is culture, identity, and memory. Any solution must respect this heritage while removing the harms embedded in its production. Today, every round of Gurasa carries hidden costs: the smoke inhaled by women, the forests cut for fuel, the silence around their struggle.
“The women are paying the price today — with their lungs, their livelihoods, their land. Every day we delay, the burden grows heavier.”
— Ifeoluwa Gbolahan
From Heat to Hope
The story of Kano’s Gurasa bakers is one of resilience. But it is also one of silence. Breaking that silence is the first step.
With awareness, investment, and inclusive policies, Kano’s ovens could shift from smoke-filled chambers of survival to clean, safe spaces of dignity. The bread that has nourished Northern Nigeria for centuries can continue to thrive — without choking the women who bake it or stripping the land that sustains it.
For now, each piece of Gurasa carries more than flour and fire. It carries a call for justice, for resilience, and for transformation from heat to hope.
