KHAMMAM: The sweet scent of sun-dried Mahua mingles with roasted nuts and ghee in Sunnam Gumpu village, Cherla mandal, where seven tribal women are cooking up more than just confections. Using forest-foraged Ipaa puvvu — the seasonal Mahua flower — they craft golden laddus that blend tradition, nutrition and enterprise. In just 45 days, they earned Rs 1.67 lakh.
It began on April 6, when the women formed the ‘Muthyalamma Joint Liability Group’, inspired by District Collector Jitesh V Patil’s Women’s Day call for rural women to embrace entrepreneurship. With support from Turram Jyothi, a ZP High School teacher in Tegada, they began collecting Mahua in bulk during its short bloom season. The flowers are sun-dried and stored for year-round use.
Each 20-gram laddu is made with pure ghee and a rich mix of sesame seeds, groundnuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds and raisins. Sold locally at `800 per kg, the laddus are already popular in Cherla, Bhadrachalam and nearby towns. But the group has bigger dreams. “With wider market access, this can become a crore-rupee business,” says group leader Sunnam Samakka. “We moved from hard field labour to dignified work that supports our families.”
Local physician Dr SL Kantha Rao says the laddus are as healthy as they are tasty — rich in iron, fibre, protein and vitamins A and C. “They boost haemoglobin, aid digestion, improve vision and support heart health,” he says.
Jyothi credits the district collector for lighting the spark. “His speech stirred something in us. We just acted on it.”
Collector Patil says empowering women like these is exactly what the administration aims to do.
