How tribal women built Rs 1.3 crore leaf plate business in Odisha

Every morning, Sumitra Devi goes to the Similipal forest on the outskirts of her village in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha to collect Sal leaves. She plucks the leaves from the lower parts of the tree and those fallen on the ground, without disturbing the young leaves or buds. From September to January, when the leaves are beyond her reach, she uses a 25-foot-long picker.

In about two to three hours, she collects 2,000 leaves, makes bundles and carries them home. 

Sumitra is one of the 2,000 women who collect Sal leaves and turn them into eco-friendly and biodegradable leaf plates and bowls, creating sustainable livelihoods for themselves and reducing plastic pollution.

These tribal women have set up a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO), named Maa Durgadevi Producer Company (MDPCL), which clocked Rs 1.3 crore in turnover in FY25 from leaf plates sold within and outside Odisha.

The women are shareholders in the Mayurbhanj-based FPO. “After bringing the leaves home, we stitch them using thin bamboo twigs and make bundles of 100 stitched leaves. We then take it to our village collection centre, where they are stored,” she tells 30Stades.

An FPO van collects all the bundles from nearby villages and takes them to the MDPCL common facility centre at Udala in Mayurbhanj. At the centre, the stitched leaves are turned into sturdy and biodegradable plates.

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Empowering tribal women

“The main objective of this unit is to empower local tribal women through livelihood generation,” Ranjan says. The initial investment of Rs 1 crore for setting up the unit was granted to SOOVA by MSME. It included the cost of the building, plant and machinery and training and capacity building for tribal women.

Initially, 200 tribal women from four villages on the periphery of the Similipal biosphere became shareholders of the FPO. With time, the numbers increased to 2,000 women from 25 villages.

The FPO began producing various varieties of Sal leaf plates and bowls in 2022 and now supplies them to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in Odisha, Mumbai, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand). It is in talks to export the plates to the USA.

The FPO works in association with NGO SOOVA (Social Organisation on Various Aspects), set up by 52-year-old Ranjan Mishra in Mayurbhanj.The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises supported the FPO. 

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The process and revenues

At the unit, a group of women stitch the loosely prepared Sal leaves using a sewing machine. “It then goes to the pressing unit, where paper is added to the base alongside the leaves during the moulding process. The hydraulic machines use dies to shape the leaves and paper into the desired plate form,” explains Sabita Singh, Director of MDPCL. She lives in Berhampur village in the Udala block.

Sabita says the bowls are prepared using smaller leaves. “The leaf plates are 5 to 14 inches in diameter, while the bowls vary from 3 to 6 inches.”

The daily production is 30,000 to 40,000 plates and bowls. The rates of leaf plates range from Rs 2 to Rs 4 per piece, and the bowls are priced between 80 paise and Rs 1.20 paise per piece. 

The plates are used in marriage ceremonies, functions, by hotels and restaurants, fast food centres and temples, including Iskon, Mumbai. 

“Each woman shareholder earns Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 per month. We have achieved our objective of providing them with consistent livelihood opportunities,” Ranjan adds.

The turnover was Rs 50 lakh in 2022-23 and it reached Rs 1 crore in 2023-24. It touched Rs 1.30 crore in FY25.

“We expect the turnover to hit Rs 5 crore by 2030 as more women join the FPO. We are working to involve more tribal women from another four blocks in the Mayurbhanj district. We are also in talks to export Sal leaf products to the USA,” Ranjan adds.

Suryamani Singh, a 35-year-old tribal woman, says the FPO has made her financially independent. “Earlier, I was only confined to my house. Now, I prepare plates as a shareholder and earn consistent income. The FPO has given me identity as a Director,” she adds.

For Rebati Singh, who lost her husband at a young age, the FPO has come as a boon. A resident of Ambika Deipur village of Udala block, she says, “Despite being a widow, I am not dependent on anyone today because I earn my livelihood from this unit. Being a director is a matter of pride for me,” she adds.

MDPCL has won many awards for its work towards women's empowerment and reducing plastic pollution.

(Malay Ray is a Rourkela-based journalist. He writes on social issues, human interest stories, startups, the environment, women empowerment and tribal life.)

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