LEAVES TURNED LIVELIHOODS

A former scientist helps rural women and small farmers strike green gold by transforming a hardy, fast-growing plant into high-value products like tea, soaps, energy bars and cookies

- By AVANEESH MISHRA

On a warm afternoon in Mubarakpur, near IIM Lucknow, the faint scent of lemongrass mingles with the earthy smell of drying leaves.

Inside a two-storey building, women in crisp hairnets and gloves move in a quiet rhythm—weighing powders, sealing soaps, sliding green tea pouches into neat stacks. Along one wall, rows of jars and packets gleam in shades of green, each tagged with a name and batch date. Almost all of it traces back to a single, unassuming tree that has quietly gone global: moringa.

Also known as the drumstick tree, moringa is a hardy, fast-growing plant long used in Indian kitchens. In recent years, it has been crowned a “super-food” abroad, thanks to its dense load of protein, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Nearly every part of the plant—leaves, pods, seeds—is edible or medicinal. What’s more, it thrives in poor soil with little water.