Mahendratanaya Arofed Farmers Producer Company Limited

You can usually find us at D Appala Swamy’s place over in Padmapur. It is right here in the Rayagada area, which is where most of us have spent our whole lives. We named our group Mahendratanaya because that is the river that really matters to everyone around here. We are just a bunch of regular farmers from the surrounding area who decided to join up and work together as a producer company. Mostly we deal with the usual crops you see in this part of Rayagada, like paddy or whatever else is in season. It is hard work, and we are not trying to pretend it is anything more than that. We spend a lot of our time just talking about the water levels and how the soil is looking after the last rain. Having an office at Appala Swamy’s house makes it easy for the other farmers to stop by and have a chat about what is going on with their own crops. We try to help out with getting things like fertilizers or maybe finding a better way to sell what we grow without losing too much money. It is not a corporate thing at all; it is just us neighbors trying to stay afloat and keep our families fed. Some days the weather is good, and some days it is pretty tough on everyone. We do not have any fancy equipment, just the basics we need to get the job done. We just keep at it every single day.