At a modest training hall in Agani village near Sirkazhi, women sit cross-legged, their fingers gently folding strips of dried palm leaf. There’s no hum of machinery, no urgency in the air — just quiet concentration and the occasional shared laugh. This is not a factory or a business hub, but something rarer: a place where rural women, many of them struggling with domestic problems, find focus, companionship, and relief.
The initiative is led by Valanadu Sustainable Agriculture Producer Company, a women-run farmer producer company supported by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Since launching a palm-leaf handicrafts training programme, the company has drawn in women from across Sirkazhi taluk — housewives, farm labourers, and informal workers aged 18 to 50 — offering not only skills, but also emotional space, its CEO Subhashini Sridhar said.
“The original idea was to help women supplement their income through palm leaf-based products such as baskets, garlands, puja trays, earrings, and phone holders. The raw material— palm leaves — is locally available and sustainable. While the target is to help each woman eventually earn around ₹5,000 a month, the real impact so far has been psychological, not financial,” she said.
