Mahua Nutribeverage

The government is to launch a mahua based alcoholic beverage, called Mahua Nutribeverage, for the first time. The marketing is to be done under the tribal affairs ministry’s Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram.

Mahua

Mahua is a forest tree, valued for its flowers. Mahua or Madhuca indica plays a vital role in the rural economy. The flowers are a rich source of calcium, minerals, vitamins and also sugars. They are used in the manufacture of ‘country beer’- by fermentation and distillation to produce spirituous liquor.

Mahua Nutribeverage

The Mahua Nutribeverage is an alcoholic drink developed by IIT Delhi in collaboration with TRIFED. The drink has high nutritional content and relatively low alcoholic content (5%). It is to be marketed in 6 fruit flavours at the cost of 700 INR for a 750ml bottle.

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram

The beverage is to be marketed under the Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram- a value addition scheme under the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It is a scheme for increasing tribal income by training tribal clusters to add value to their produce and market it in a packaged version. About 500 to 600 crore INR had been earmarked for the scheme.