If you Google the name Rajshekhar Patil, the first prompt of the search engine states ‘Rajshekhar Patil bamboo’. What follows is a range of articles on bamboo farming mentioning him. The same search on YouTube takes you to his channel, which has about 1,000 videos on his farming technique, and over 7.6k subscribers.
At the age of 50, Rajshekhar from Nipani village of Osmanabad district is earning in crores from bamboo farming. He has won around 40 awards for his achievements in the field and has been hailed by the Central and state governments. But the story of this man, who hails from the drought-prone state of Maharashtra, did not always read the same.
Around 23 years ago, Rajshekhar, the son of a farmer, was indebted to the sum of Rs 10 lakh and termed as a failure by the villagers and even people close to him. It took him years of toiling and working with a meagre income to hone his skills enough to transform his life into what it is today.
In 1992, Rajshekhar completed his…