Abstract

Bihar’s flood-fed ponds have quietly raised fox-nuts, locally called makhana, for centuries. Yet the seed’s journey from fasting-day staple to best-selling “super-food” has been remarkably swift. With Geographical Indication (GI) status granted in 2022 and Bihar now producing almost 90 % of India’s crop, makhana now sits at the intersection of wellness trends, climate-smart aquaculture and India’s drive for value-added agri-exports. This article traces makhana’s rise, from pond ecology and nutrition science to export numbers and policy reforms and argues that careful scaling can turn the snack into a marquee rural-development success.