Ibrahim Bafara Alhassan is using his self-funded Vision Farms poultry project to help eradicate poverty among the people of the three northern regions of Ghana.
The project started from the Upper West Region through Northern Region and to the Upper East Region has been hailed as a successful poverty eradication project in the regions.
Through Mr Alhassan’s project, over four-thousand people and their dependents have been lifted out of the poverty bracket, while several others are in line to benefit from it.
Narrating how the project started, Mr Alhassan said: “I remember some widows in the Bussa community in the Wa Municipality used to go round begging for alms. I sat one of them down and asked her why she was going round begging and I realized that it was because of the number of children she was having. So, I advised her to go into poultry rearing and she was trying not to buy the idea but I convinced her to accept the idea”.
He continued: “So, we trained her and gave her 10 birds to start with. Some few months later, when I visited her place I realized that the woman was doing very well and all the 10 birds were surviving. So, I was a little touched and said to myself if this woman is able to do this, while other people are still begging”.
” Then the vision came that why don’t we extend such assistance to other people in the community and give them training and some of the birds to start with”.
Initially, the few beneficiaries were given the birds free of charge.
Mr Alhassan added: “It was through this that the Vision Farms poultry project started. Vision Farms started in 2014 in Wa in the Upper West Region and in that year we were able to train 1,400 bird out-growers and supply them with about 14,000 birds” .
“Currently in 2017, we have trained about 3,000 out-growers and supplied them with about 30,000 birds in all the 11 districts in the Upper West Region. Also, we have moved to Northern Region where we have trained 1,600 out-growers and supplied them with 16,000 birds” .
“Later, we realized that we cannot be given the birds continually, so now we give them the birds and pick some percentage from it. We use the percentage or what we called recovery to buy some and give to another group. In total, we are able to train 4,600 out-growers and supply them with 40,600 birds in both Upper West and Northern regions. We are hoping to move to Upper East Region this year to replicate the same project there”.
Watching him from TV set when his humanitarian activities were aired, revealed a young man who has the passion to help his communities to come out of poverty, hence his decision to set up the project in Wa, Upper West Regional capital and extends it to cover the three regions.
Mr Alhassan’s project was featured prominently on the 1oth episode of the ongoing season III of the MTN Heroes of Change which is MTN Ghana Foundation flagship project.
It was initiated in July 2013 to recognise and reward persons who have provided significant humanitarian services to their communities through personal sacrifices.
The MTN Ghana Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of MTN Ghana, the leading telecoms service provider in the country.
He was nominated by his people to participate in this year’s MTN Heroes of Change which is currently aired on GTV every Saturday at 5:30pm;Multi TV on Sundays at 5:00pm;TV3 on Sundays at 6:30pm; and GhOne on Sundays at 7:00pm .
The purpose of the TV shows is to highlight the humanitarian activities of Mr Essel and the nine other contestants for the ultimate cash prize of GH¢100,000.
The ultimate Hero of Change winner will receive GH¢100,000 to support his/her community project. Three selected winners for the various categories will receive GH¢20,000 each, while the remaining six finalists will also take home GH¢5,000 each.
The Assembly Member of the Bussa Electoral Area in the Wa Municipality, Issahaka Alhassan Hamidu, lauded Mr Alhassan’s immense contributions to the socio-economic development of the community and regions as well.
“Mr Alhassan has really changed our lives through the project. We are very grateful for Mr Alhassan’s intervention and urge to keep it up”, he stated.
The beneficiaries of the project are optimistic that Mr Alhassan is going to win the ultimate cash prize to enable him finance his activities of the Vision Farms poultry project.
So, Mr Alhassan needs your votes to enable him win the ultimate prize. You can do so by texting his short code name (Ibrahim) to 1406.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
