When Shankar Meena returned to his village near Jaipur, he saw firsthand how traditional farming in Rajasthan struggled to sustain incomes — and that the state lacked a key agricultural input: quality mushroom spawn, the seed material essential for mushroom farming. Spotting this gap, he turned away from conventional crops to build a scientific, scalable enterprise: Jeevan Mushrooms, India’s first commercial mushroom spawn production lab in Rajasthan.

Despite repeated rejections from banks unwilling to back a science-driven agribusiness, Shankar persevered. He trained under experts at the Agriculture Research Centre in Jaipur and at ICAR’s mushroom research facility, learned sterile lab techniques and invested about ₹16 lakh using a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana loan and personal savings to set up a professional spawn lab.

Starting with a 9,000 sq ft facility in 2017, Jeevan Mushrooms now uses advanced equipment to produce a wide range of spawn — from button and oyster to lion’s mane and shiitake — supplying farmers nationwide. Shankar sells spawn at competitive prices and offers direct distribution to ensure quality, which has driven demand and helped the business grow to about ₹90 lakh in annual turnover.

His journey shows how innovative agricultural entrepreneurship — even without early institutional support — can create new value chains, empower farmers and expand rural incomes.