Kudumbashree’s K-INAM for scaling up women-led agri-food ventures

The Kudumbashree is set to roll out K-INAM, a unified, premium agri-food brand of the mission, this week.

K-INAM is conceived as an intervention to transform women-led grassroots enterprises into technology-enabled, market-ready, and globally competitive food businesses.

Anchored under the Kudumbashree Technology Advancement Programme (KTAP), K-INAM represents a shift from traditional micro-production models towards scientific processing, standardised quality systems, and organised market integration.

The programme is designed to ensure that advanced food and agri-processing technologies developed by premier national research institutions reach rural women who can convert science into sustainable livelihoods.

Through KTAP, Kudumbashree has acquired licensed validated food technologies from institutions such as CSIR laboratories, ICAR institutes, NIFTEM, and national universities and embedded them within women-led joint liability groups (JLGs), producer groups, and enterprise clusters across Kerala.

These technologies cover a wide spectrum of value-added products, including functional foods, nutrition-focussed mixes, processed fruits and vegetables, climate-resilient staples, and health-oriented snacks.

Each product under K-INAM is developed using standardised protocols that ensure food safety, nutritional integrity, and shelf stability — aligned with FSSAI norms and scalable for domestic and export markets.

Women entrepreneurs are trained to operate modern processing methods, adopt good manufacturing practices, maintain hygiene and traceability standards, and adopt contemporary packaging and labelling systems. This enables the Kudumbashree enterprises to move up the value chain — from informal production to formal, compliant, and competitive agri-food manufacturing.

K-INAM ensures better prices, income stability, and enterprise sustainability for women producers by aggregating production under a unified brand and enabling direct market access.

Minister for Local Self-government M.B. Rajesh will launch K-INAM in Ernakulam on Saturday. The launch of K-INAM marks the first phase of rolling out over 30 technology-enabled food products, produced across multiple districts and supported by extensive documentation, digital outreach, and institutional convergence.

KTAP 2.0

The launch event will also serve as a platform to showcase Kudumbashree’s wider technology-led enterprise ecosystem. Alongside the K-INAM product launch, the programme will introduce the next phase of the Kudumbashree Technology Advancement Programme (KTAP 2.0) that focusses on deeper technology integration, expanded product pipelines, and enhanced market readiness.

The event will also highlight Kudumbashree’s product branding and market access interventions, YUKTHI agri start-up initiative aimed at nurturing youth-led agri and food enterprises, and the launch of curated Kudumbashree gift boxes that reflect the strength, diversity, and quality of women-led production units.