This IAS Officer Revived a Forgotten Food, Creating a Crore-Rupee Business for Local Women

Walk into any health store today, and you'll find shelves lined with expensive protein powders promising strength and nutrition. But long before these supplements became a trend, India already had its own protein-rich superfood — sattu.

In Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, this humble roasted gram flour had once been a source of pride. Over the years, however, declining demand and poor returns meant farmers slowly stopped cultivating gram, young people migrated in search of work, and Ballia began losing an important part of its identity.

That changed when IAS officer Aojasvi Raj, then serving as the district's Chief Development Officer, decided that the answer to Ballia's future lay in reviving its past.

Reviving a forgotten superfood

Instead of looking for a brand-new industry, Aojasvi saw immense potential in a product that generations had trusted for its nutrition.

He encouraged local farmers to return to gram cultivation, highlighting the growing demand for healthy, plant-based foods. But the revival wasn't driven by large factories. It was built by the hands of more than 700 women from self-help groups.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia)

The women took charge of roasting the gram, removing its husk, grinding it into flour, packaging the product, and creating a sustainable enterprise around it. What began as a traditional household staple soon evolved into a community-led business that generated livelihoods while preserving local heritage.

Giving tradition a modern makeover

The transformation didn't stop at production.

Simple brown packets made way for attractive premium packaging complete with nutritional information, recipe booklets, new flavours, and stories celebrating Ballia's rich cultural legacy. Sattu was repositioned not just as a summer drink, but as a wholesome vegan protein suited to modern lifestyles.

The renewed branding helped Ballia's sattu find customers far beyond the district, with products now available on platforms like Amazon and Blinkit. The district also earned One District One Product (ODOP) recognition for its signature offering, further strengthening its market presence.

Within just two years, gram cultivation in Ballia more than doubled, creating new opportunities for farmers and local entrepreneurs alike.

A model rooted in local strengths

Today, Ballia's sattu entrepreneurs are building businesses worth crores, and the administration is working towards introducing value-added products such as protein bars, protein powder, and larger processing units to expand the market further.

Ballia's turnaround shows that the strongest ideas aren't always the newest ones. Sometimes, all it takes is looking at a forgotten local tradition through a fresh lens and creating opportunities for the people who've always kept it alive.

As Ballia's sattu reaches customers across India and beyond, it shows how one local ingredient and the people who believed in it — can restore livelihoods, revive pride, and put an entire district back on the map.

Source: The Better India