Aikya Farmers Producer Company Limited

You can find us over at the Shreeji Complex in Kotdataluka. It’s room G-10, right there in the middle of the village. Being in Deodar, we deal with a lot of dry weather and hard ground. Aikya Farmers Producer Company Limited isn't some corporate office with people in ties. It’s mostly just us farmers coming in with mud on our clothes to talk about the latest harvest. We picked this spot in the complex because it’s easier for everyone to reach from the surrounding fields. Banaskantha is a tough place to farm but we’ve lived here our whole lives. We started this group because we wanted to have a bit more control over what happens to our crops after we pick them. Usually, the middleman takes everything, so we're trying to do it differently. It’s not always smooth. The electricity goes out often, or the paperwork gets stuck for weeks. We just keep at it because there isn't much other choice. The office is a bit small and we often run out of places to sit when more than five people show up. We share news about which seeds are working and which ones are a waste of money. It’s just a simple group of people from Kotdataluka trying to help each other get by. We don't have any big secrets or fancy plans, just hard work and hoping for a good monsoon to keep the wells full.