The interviews and reporting for this story were conducted in October 2024.

A resident of Idukki in Kerala, Rani Sunny spends her days surrounded by the lush greenery of cardamom and jackfruit plantations spread across 4.5 acres of land in her backyard. While her family harvested cardamom, they would chop down the jackfruits from the trees, unaware of the value they would bring years later.

“Our area is known for cardamom farming, and like other farmers in the region, we also grew jackfruit trees to provide shade to the small cardamom trees. Each tree would yield between 10 and 50 jackfruits, but we would throw them away without considering their potential to turn a profit,” she says.

For Rani, jackfruit had little value until 2017, when she saw the potential in the plentiful resource after attending a training programme.

By harnessing the versatility of jackfruit, Rani developed a range of innovative products — including dried jackfruit, dried jackfruit powder, frozen tender jackfruit, wholesome jackfruit powder, dried jackfruit seed, dried jackfruit seed powder, and jackfruit pulp. These were later used to make supplements, cutlets, burger patties, and more.

That same year, the 57-year-old embarked on a remarkable entrepreneurial journey by deciding........

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