She makes a living from her millet-based business

The route to the picturesque village of Lathuvadi in Thottiyam consists of dirt roads. Going up and down the potholes, the field officer and I reached the village on a Wednesday afternoon. I was there to meet Rathi Rameshkumar, borrower, and leader of a JLG. But she was unavailable, and so I met Mariyayee Raman, a member of her group. Mariyayee was awaiting our arrival; a few of her neighbours had gathered outside her home in curiosity. Mariyayee had taken a loan to start a millet-based health mix powder business. She and Rathi are part of this trade and the other three members of the group are running masala powder business.     

After we had settled down, Mariyayee and I started talking about her family and business, while her neighbours looked on. She resides with her mother and does coolie work apart from the health mix powder business. Mariyayee adopted her sister’s daughter and raised her; she is now married and resides in Tiruchengode. To sharpen her business skills and bring in more household income, Mariyayee started this business seven months ago.  

Rathi and Mariyayee come together once a week to make the millet-based powder. It consists of healthy ingredients such as raw rice, ragi, roasted gram, wheat, brown sugar, and more. These are bought from the local grocery store in the village. After drying and roasting it, the duo grinds the powder in their homes itself, using their mixie. “We go to the mill only when there’s a large quantity to grind,” Mariyayee said. The powder is then put into 100 gm packets, each of which costs Rs. 15. “Customers prefer only 100 gm packets, not more not less,” she observed. Of the 20-30 packets that she makes a month, she manages to sell a substantial number of packets to people within her family. She gives her daughter a kilo of this powder every month and other relatives buy her powder in preferred quantities. And what about the rest of the packets, I asked. “Rathi and I split the packets and do some door-to-door selling. I make porridge from this powder and take it with me whenever I go out to gain new customers. I offer them a sample and educate them on other dishes they could make with the powder.” Mariyayee’s approach seems to be giving her good returns, for she makes a profit of more than Rs. 750 monthly from this business.  

Response to the health mix powder has been good ever since she started the business. Mariyayee hopes to take it forward and make this trade her primary source of income. She had run out of the health-mix powder on the day I met her and was in the process of drying a new batch of ingredients. I clicked a picture while she posed.