Poultry: This business is no chickenfeed

Sumanta Bisui, 30, belongs to the West Midnapore district of Bengal, considered a happy hunting ground for the Maoist movement just a few years ago. A graduate of Garbeta College, the eldest son of the Bisui family of Amlasuli village started out by joining the family business — farming potatoes and vegetables. 


"I was then 22 years old. Fresh from college, I first looked around for some decent job in my locality. But having failed to get one, I had no choice but to join the farming business. In those days, there was always the fear of Maoists. At times my men would fear to go to the interiors to sell potatoes. Fortunately, those dark days are over now,"Bisui said. After toiling for nearly eight years in the field and learning the ropes of marketing potatoes in Bengal and in the neighbouring states of Odisha and Jharkhand, Bisui wanted a change. "I was not enjoying what I was doing. I felt the desire to do something else. That was the time when I started talking to some of my friends and to my brother who is a software engineer settled in the US," he said.