Jonaki Farmer Producer Company Limited

Over in Padmabil, Kokrajhar, we started the Jonaki Farmer Producer Company. Johanara Begum is the one who helps us manage the records and handles the mail. We are a collection of local farmers who decided it was time to stop working in isolation. Kokrajhar is a good place to farm, but it has its difficulties like anywhere else. We aren't a big business with a lot of money. We are just people who know the land. Most of our meetings happen after the sun goes down and we are finished with the day's labor. We talk about the crops and how to handle the logistics of moving them. It’s a lot of honest, hard work. We chose the name Jonaki because it has a local feel to it. We don't have a marketing team or people in suits telling us what to do. It’s just us making decisions for ourselves. We try to help each other out when someone has a bad harvest or when the prices aren't great. Being a producer company lets us talk to the buyers as a single group, which is a lot better than being alone. We are just trying to keep our traditional way of life going while being a bit more organized about it. Johanara’s place is our hub, but the real work happens out in the fields every day. It is just a simple group of people trying to do right by their land.