From banker to goat entrepreneur: how Manikstu Agro began

March 2024 · 1 min read · Manikstu Agro Private Limited

Jayanti Mahapatra left a banking career in Bengaluru and returned to Kalahandi to build a goat-rearing business around marginal farmers, especially women.

Jayanti Mahapatra, who comes from Odisha, was a banker in Bengaluru. She left that job and moved to Salebhata, her husband's village in Kalahandi district. In 2015 she founded Manikstu Agro Pvt. Ltd there, with the aim of treating agriculture as a business that lifts the whole community.

The company chose community goat rearing, a part of animal husbandry she saw as neglected. Its name comes from the goddess Maa Manikeswari. Early on, Mahapatra worked with the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Maharashtra to learn the work.

The start was not easy. According to Orissa Post, some people doubted that she was serious, many saw goats only as animals kept for meat, and families often left for work elsewhere once the cotton season ended.

The model focuses on marginal farmers, especially women. A family receives two female goats to look after for 24 months, with insurance, seed, fodder, health care and diet support. Unemployed local youth are trained as Pashu Seva Adhikari (PSA) and are paid per visit for animal care and awareness work.

Orissa Post reports that about 1,000 to 1,500 farmers in Kalahandi alone are connected to the company, with farmers in nearby districts also benefiting. The Prime Minister highlighted her story in his Mann Ki Baat radio address, an episode you can watch in our Videos section.