Rural Livelihoods Program

Poshana

Women-Led Food & Nutrition Enterprises

Reviving traditional, local, and medicinal food systems while enabling women-led, home-based enterprises in rural Karnataka.

Partner With Us Get In Touch

When women earn from knowledge they already carry, the whole community benefits.

What Is Poshana?

This initiative supports rural women in building home-based livelihoods through traditional food production.

It combines nutrition, local knowledge, and income generation — building a distributed micro-entrepreneurship model rooted in what communities already know and grow.

Poshana integrates nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and income generation. By reviving traditional and medicinal food systems, it enables women to produce value-added products from their homes — creating income without requiring them to leave their communities.

We also support cultivation of key ingredients, encourage plant saplings, and work on building sustainable local supply chains.

What We Do

Four pillars of the Poshana program.

Train Women

Traditional food preparation training, quality standards, and value-added product development.

Value-Added Products

Introduce recipes and processing techniques that increase the market value of locally grown ingredients.

Home-Based Production

Support small-scale, home-based production that fits around women's existing responsibilities.

Grow Ingredients

Encourage cultivation of key ingredients and provide plant saplings to strengthen local supply.

Our Products

Traditional and medicinal foods, made by hand, in homes across rural Karnataka.

Ragi Malt

Nutritious finger millet malt, a staple health food and traditional breakfast ingredient. Sourced and processed locally.

Moringa Chutney Powder

Sun-dried and spiced moringa leaf powder — rich in nutrition, made using traditional methods, and packed with flavour.

Ginnu

A traditional Karnataka sweet made from raw sugarcane extract — a seasonal, locally crafted delicacy.

Bettada Nellikai Chutney

Wild gooseberry chutney powder — a tangy, medicinal condiment made from forest-sourced nellikai (amla).

Happala

Sun-dried rice and lentil papads, made in traditional ways and sun-cured in village courtyards.

Soppu & Plant Saplings

Locally grown greens (soppu) and plant saplings — supporting the cultivation of key ingredients used across Poshana's products.

Women at work
Community Impact

What Poshana Has Built

  • 50+ women engaged in home-based production
  • Income generated from within the community
  • Revival of traditional and medicinal food systems
  • Strengthened local agriculture and supply chains

This initiative enables rural women and families to earn income while sharing their knowledge and way of life. Your participation — as a partner, buyer, or supporter — becomes part of a larger effort to build sustainable and inclusive rural economies.

Future Direction

We are looking to partner with organizations, markets, and platforms to expand reach and create sustainable demand for these products.

If you work in food retail, institutional procurement, CSR, or community development — we'd love to connect. Together, we can bring these products and the stories behind them to a wider audience.

Partner With Us Get In Touch