Alappuzha:Vanita Selfie sells edible leaves hot'
The organisers claim that the local leaves would fast become a highly sought after product.
Alappuzha: A group of 50 women from Kanjikuzhy panchayat offers standardised, hygienic, branded and packaged homegrown edible leaves.
The group, Vanita Selfie, has turned the under-valuated leaves as a consumer product well in demand through proper marketing under the ‘Kanjikuzhy Eat N Fresh Vegetables brand.
Trained by the Alappuzha District Cooperative Organic and Agriculture Society (ADCOS), they pack them after strictly standardised safety checking.
The packaged leaves include spinach varieties, drumstick tree leaves (moringa oleifera), curry leaves and colocasia - all grown in an organic way.
The organisers claim that the local leaves would fast become a highly sought after product.
"Our prime target is urban employed women," says Geetha Karthikeyan, coordinator, who is a former Kanjikuzhy panchayat president.
"Many of them struggle to find resources for their midday meals every morning. Our ready-to-cook product could their worries as they get their dearest variety at the neighbourhood stores."
Supported by college girls, homemakers, Kudumbasree members and social activists, Vanita Selfie is not a novice in food making. They were marketing banana blossoms and stems, and they got the knack of making edible products out of the plantain tree - a prestigious product available in the Alappuzha market.
They also floated the first event management company run by women in the state.
ADCOS president M. Santhosh Kumar said it would hit the market twice a week in Alappuzha. As per the demand, it would expand the market for the product priced at Rs 25 a packet.