Afiifa Fed Fruit Farmer Producer Company Limited

Our little office is located at Ali Mohd Shah's place near Chashma Manasbal in Ganderbal, but we are officially registered over in the Sumbal area of Baramulla. It is a beautiful part of Jammu and Kashmir, especially when the fruit trees are in bloom. We are a group of fruit growers who felt it was high time we had our own collective, so we started Afiifa Fed Fruit Farmer Producer Company Limited. It’s not a big corporate thing with suits and meetings. Usually, it’s just a couple of us sitting on the porch or in a small room talking about the apple or pear crops. We deal with all the usual problems like bad weather, transport issues, and finding enough hands during the harvest weeks. Most of us have been doing this since we were kids, learning from our fathers. We don’t really do promotional stuff because the fruit speaks for itself when it’s good. We just try to make sure we are getting a fair shake when it comes time to sell. The work is physical and tiring, but doing it as a group makes the burden a bit lighter for everyone. We stay busy year-round, even in the winter when the trees are bare and we are just planning for the next spring. It is a simple life centered around the cycles of the orchards and the local market cycles in Baramulla. We just keep our heads down and work.