"I was completing my graduation and had my sights set on a government job when my father passed away and our family fell into financial crisis. Being an educated person, what would people say if I simply join agriculture? But with no other choice at the time, I thought let me put my mind to good use in farming and support my family of 9. I saw an opportunity in growing vegetables, quickly learning that early production of seasonal and off seasonal vegetables was the only way to get a good price from the market. But we faced a big water problem and had to find a solution. We got together as a group of farmers, and installed a pump to ‘lift’ water from the nearby river to irrigate our fields. With enough water, the vegetable business provided handsome returns! I soon saw another business opportunity and established a ‘vegetable nursery’ to supply year – round vegetable saplings to farmers. It seems I’m putting my brain to good use after all…” - Biswanth Mandal, Bhairabdanga, Bahadurpur, Farakka, West Bengal.