Srinagar Vegetable Farmers Producer Company Limited

Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh’s place in Sheikhnoush Colony is where we usually meet up. It’s in Tengpora. We started Srinagar Vegetable Farmers Producer Company Limited because it made sense for us local growers to work together. Most of us have been working these fields for years, growing greens and other vegetables that people in Srinagar need. The soil here in the valley is good but the work is hard. We spend our mornings checking the rows and making sure everything is getting enough water. Sometimes the weather doesn't help us at all. It gets cold or too wet, and then we have to figure out how to save the crops. It’s not just about planting seeds and waiting. We have to handle the sorting and the loading ourselves. The office at Mushtaq’s is just a simple room where we keep our records and talk about what needs to be done next. It’s usually a bit messy with paperwork and muddy boots by the door. We aren’t a big operation with fancy machines. Most of what we do is by hand or with old tools that have been around a long time. People around here know us because we’ve been part of this community forever. We just try to get the vegetables out to the markets while they’re still fresh. It’s a lot of long hours, especially during the harvest time when everyone is tired and the trucks are late. We just keep at it because this is what we know how to do.