Born in a Rajasthan village, Shanker Meena spent his childhood taking part in amid wheat and mustard crops. However as he grew up, he noticed his father toil day and evening to domesticate these crops that will get broken as a result of wrath of nature, leading to low crop yield and thereby unsure earnings.
To faucet right into a steady revenue, he went on to finish his greater research in commerce and subsequently joined RA Podar Institute of Administration to pursue a profession in finance. Nevertheless, Shanker dropped out of the faculty proper after the completion of his first semester in 2012.
“Though I took the admission, again in my thoughts, I might all the time take into consideration new enterprise concepts. My coronary heart belonged to farming. So, I wished to discover a method to amalgamate farming and enterprise,” the MBA dropout tells The Higher India.
A few years later, Shanker fulfilled his dream by launching his firm ‘Jeevan Mushroom’ the place he sells spawns of a variety of mushrooms together with button, oyster, lion’s mane, paddy straw, shiitake, ganoderma, portobello, and extra.
At the moment, he has established an enormous market base not solely in India but additionally overseas the place he exports his produce to neighbouring international locations together with Bhutan and Nepal, and the UAE. Presently, his month-to-month income stands at Rs 13 lakh.
Mushrooming concepts
For Shanker, the choice to stop MBA was not simple. “Folks doubted my talents and harassed that it was time for me to focus on shaping my profession as a substitute of operating a enterprise at this age. Folks from my caste are anticipated to change into IAS officers. I used to be by no means fascinated about that. And to make it worse, I stop my school after the primary semester mocking the expectations of the villagers,” he laughs.
Anyway, after dropping out of faculty, Shanker tried his fingers at cultivating mushrooms. “This product was new at the moment and was well-liked in accommodations. I knew that this enterprise would increase sooner or later,” he says.
So in 2015, Shanker went to the ICAR-Directorate of Mushroom Analysis in Solan to know the nitty-gritty of cultivating mushrooms. Coming again, he vacated a small room of his home and arrange the bottom for cultivating mushrooms.
“In just a few months, I noticed that Rajasthan didn’t have a single unit that manufactured mushroom spawns. Folks have been depending on states like Himachal, Haryana, and Delhi to supply the seeds. I noticed this as an ideal alternative that will assist me stand out within the crowd,” he provides.
For this, Shanker sourced the mom tradition from ICAR, Solan and arrange a short lived ‘jugaad’ (make-do lab) within the storage of his home to domesticate spawns on a trial foundation. In the meantime, he additionally managed to get a mortgage of Rs 9 lakhs beneath the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana. With the mortgage quantity and monetary help from household and associates, he labored on establishing a devoted lab unfold throughout an space of 9,000 sq-ft.
Within the lab, he launched superior items of equipment like seed germination chambers, vertical autoclaves, and a laminar airflow cupboard to supply a sterile working atmosphere for higher productiveness.
In 2017, after 5 years of analysis and growth, Shanker formally launched his firm which he runs alongside along with his spouse, Kanchan Meena. With the assistance of social media, he began getting orders for mushroom spawns in bulk.
At the moment, Shanker produces as much as 80 tonnes of mushroom spawns in his lab. Priced between Rs 90-115 per kg, his spawns have an enormous demand in different states together with Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Assam.
Why he grew to become profitable
At the moment, mushroom cultivation has gained recognition amongst small-scale farmers for its low enter prices, comparatively excessive yield, and return on funding. However, Shanker opines, not many individuals are in a position to extract as a lot revenue owing to an absence of scientific strategy.
“The explanation why we grew to become profitable is as a result of I all the time harassed on the standard of spawns that’s often compromised on this enterprise,” he says.
He additional explains intimately, “Like different crops of wheat and greens, we wouldn’t have a seed for mushrooms. It’s a fungus which is manufactured in hygienic circumstances in a lab. We require a tissue tradition and mom spawn to multiply this fungus and get extra spawns for commercialisation.”
“However farmers take a shortcut and maintain multiplying spawns utilizing the industrial spawns, as a substitute of getting ready a unique tissue tradition and mom spawn. This reduces the standard of the spawns and makes them weak to ailments. Whereas they might not observe the impact instantly, it’s noticed by farmers solely once they get a low yield,” he provides.
Though Shanker earns an honest revenue at present, it’s not all roses on a regular basis. “Together with earnings, we additionally incur losses typically. Final 12 months, we confronted losses value Rs 27 lakh. I used to be receiving complaints of low yield. Once I checked the equipment, I came upon there was a skinny hair measurement leakage that contaminated the spawns,” he says.
“Typically, I get discouraged by such conditions and I really feel like quitting. However then I look again at my journey and I really feel overwhelmed to have come to this point. I’ve a commerce background and the primary time I noticed a take a look at tube was throughout my coaching. Such small achievements inspire me to try for the success of my firm. That’s why now I don’t maintain a plan B,” he smiles.
Shanker has additionally been conferred with Progressive & Progressive Farmer awards by the Rajasthan authorities in 2019 and Progressive Agricultural Startup by the Startup India in 2020.
Edited by Padmasshree Pande. All photos: Shanker Meena.