Mr Azibalua Moses felt frustrated after an accident left him physically challenged and unemployed for over 10 years.
Living in Imiringi community of Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Mr Moses almost watched his situation go from bad to worse into begging as disability could not allow him fend for himself.
Without the capability of doing anything to earn money as he now walks with crutches, the young man watched life become miserable until an opportunity to become a poultry farmer came.
He is one of the people living with disability that the IFAD/FG/NDDC- funded Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises in Niger Delta (LIFE-END) assisted to become a poultry farmer.
Explaining how the whole drama started he said, “I was a motorcycle rider; that is where I got this accident in 2012. When I was discharged from the hospital, I was doing nothing and very frustrated until last year when this programme came.”
After the accident, his life took a different turn as he explained that, “Life was not pleasant because somebody who used to work and eat was suddenly no more able to work. You would sit at home to eat, depending on your parents or younger ones. It was not pleasant at all; it was hell. I used to sit back to think unnecessarily.”
He told Daily Trust on Sunday that at that moment, he was eager to accept any intervention that would help his disability, adding, “When the community informed that some people were coming and everybody should go the town hall, I complied, In the process of sensitisation I was told that the programme was also meant for people with disabilities. So I was given the opportunity as one of the persons living with disability.”
He said that with support to learn poultry farming at a farm called VEEJAY Farm, it became an ‘incubator that hatched him’ into poultry farming today, adding that his incubator, a woman, gave him a thorough and in-depth training on layer production.
“At the end of the training, LIFE-ND gave us inputs, including 150 birds each, feeds, layer Match-19, growers-19.
“My greatest surprise, which I thank God for, is the kind of birds they gave us because they all survived.
“Within one month, the layers started laying eggs, and now, production has increased and better. Initially, the birds laid 30 eggs, but now, we record two crates of eggs per day. The birds were given to us this year and we commenced production,” he said.
Today, the young man is making plan to expand his business from the community facility to his personal property.
He added, “I have already made a move for a portion of land from my family so that after this, I will build my own facility.”
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