Farmers’ Column: Once a modest poultry business in Pathankot is now driving rural upliftment across states

Hailing from village Naraini Chak in district Pathankot, Rakesh took a bold step after completing his MBA in 2014 — he chose not to pursue a corporate job, but instead, carry forward and modernise his family’s poultry business, which was started by his father Rajinder Singh Manhas at a small scale in 1999.

What started as a 10,000-bird broiler operation by him in 2014, has now transformed into a thriving agro-based business empire, known as Manhas Poultries since 2016 — a beacon of progress in animal husbandry and rural employment.

“Though I used to see my father, who was earlier working with a hatchery since 1983 and later set up his own Manhas Poultry Farm in 1999, since my childhood, I still gained some more experience in the same field by working in a company for some time, as my father told me that a huge risk is involved in this business,” Rakesh underscored.

Hailing from village Naraini Chak in district Pathankot, Rakesh Manhas took a bold step after completing his MBA in 2014 — he chose not to pursue a corporate job, but instead, carry forward and modernise his family’s poultry business. (Express photo)

Today, Manhas Poultries has scaled to over 100,000 parent birds, with 1.2–1.3 million (12-13 lakh) broilers produced monthly with the help of hundreds of farmers engaged by them. The group supplies these broilers across northern India and even caters to the Indian Army, with 70 per cent of production delivered to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Leh-Ladakh, and Srinagar.

The group runs an extensive contract farming network across 480 poultry farms, including 250 in Punjab, 130 in J&K, and 100 in Himachal Pradesh.

“Under this model, local farmers construct their own poultry sheds, while Manhas Poultries provides chicks, feed, and veterinary support, all free of cost. The farmers are responsible only for day-to-day care, and in return, they receive a fixed monthly income according to the number of chickens they prepare, irrespective of market volatility. If they manage the farm well, they get incentives too,” Rakesh added.

He added that farmers associated with him run poultry farms from a minimum of 3,000 chickens to several thousands, as there is no upper limit, provided one has the shed according to the required number of chickens.

“Even if a farmer is preparing 3,000 broiler chickens — which takes around four weeks to gain weight up to 1.5 kg — he can easily earn Rs 30,000 to 35,000. If he manages the farm well, then he will get the incentive and several other benefits too. It is not a buyback model, but a model where everything is provided by us, and the farmer has to manage the farm and look after the broilers so that they grow in a healthy manner. His income is sure-shot. Because of this, more and more farmers are associating with us,” Manhas highlighted.

“This is not just business — it’s empowerment. Hundreds of unemployed youth and small farmers now have a steady income and dignity through this initiative.”

Though Rakesh now helms the broiler production and farm operations, he hasn’t done it alone. “Along with my father, in 2017, my younger brother Naresh, also an MBA, joined the business. Naresh underwent professional hatchery training in Pune and Dehradun, leading to the establishment of a state-of-the-art hatchery, where eggs are kept under controlled temperature and humidity to ensure proper hatching, under the name of Manhas Broilers and Breeding Farm,” Rakesh said, adding that in 2023, the family started a feed unit, Manhas Feed Mill Pvt. Ltd.

“Aimed at further enhancing production capacity and feed quality, we set up the feed unit which can meet stringent quality standards as we supply feed to all our contract farms from here and even independent farmers are also getting feed from us.”

Apart from giving employment to around 480 farmers in Punjab, Himachal, and Jammu and Kashmir, Rakesh now employs over 200 direct workers at his Pathankot unit and is responsible for indirect employment of hundreds more through their extended farming network.

The enterprise is equipped with fully automated systems for feeding, temperature control, waste management, and hygiene and Manhas Poultry units are considered among one of the most advanced in the region.

For his contribution to animal husbandry and poultry innovation, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) conferred him with the Chief Minister’s Award in September 2025-26.

He remains a regular speaker at national poultry seminars and agricultural expos, and actively collaborates with institutions like the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary University, Ludhiana, to promote scientific poultry farming practices. Also, several school and college students are visiting his farms and hatchery to get basic knowledge in this field.

The family also owns 30 acres of land, where his grandfather, late Sukhdev Singh Manhas, who relocated from Sialkot (now in Pakistan) in 1947, had started farming after retiring as a naib subedar from the Indian Army in the 1980s. His ancestral family had purchased the farm land after relocation.

The Manhas brothers have ambitious plans. With the infrastructure in place, they are now working on launching their own branded chicken products, and a full-scale poultry processing plant is also in the pipeline.

“We want to build not just a company, but a sustainable ecosystem,” Rakesh explains. “From hatcheries and feed to farm management and processing — we want Manhas Poultries to be a one-stop solution for quality poultry products in India.”

He’s not just producing chickens — he’s cultivating jobs, hope, and self-reliance across the region, said GADVASU officials.

“Success isn’t about avoiding mistakes — it’s about learning, evolving, and lifting others along the way,” the 35-year-old said.

“I’ve always believed in thinking differently and outside the box — in fact, I’ve even had these mottos written on the walls of my office,” he concluded.

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