In a cardamom field tucked above Rhenock town in East Sikkim, a farmer named Dawa Lepcha watched his neighbours across the border in Darjeeling spray synthetic pesticides on their tea gardens. It was 2014, and Sikkim’s state government had just told him — along with approximately 66,000 other farming families — that chemical fertilisers were … Read more
In the dusty outskirts of Bikaner district, a shepherd named Bhoma Ram shears wool from his flock of 120 Magra sheep every winter — and for decades, middlemen paid him barely ₹15-20 per kilogram for it. That changed when a cooperative spinning mill offered him ₹45 per kilogram, nearly triple the rate, and suddenly the … Read more
In the weaving hamlet of Mangalagiri, about 30 kilometres from Vijayawada, a 58-year-old weaver named Suresh spends nine hours a day on a pit loom producing cotton sarees with the distinctive nizam border his family has woven for three generations. He earns approximately ₹8,000 per month — and until last year, his only reliable buyer … Read more
Last monsoon, in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra, a dairy farmer named Ramesh Jadhav watched his Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) chairman approve a ₹14 lakh fertiliser contract with his own brother-in-law’s supply firm. Fourteen members knew it was wrong. Not one knew what to do about it. I’ve heard versions of this story from Rajasthan … Read more
In the winter of 2019, Kamla Devi of Joshimath block in Chamoli district earned ₹1,200 for an entire season’s collection of wild jatamansi roots — a Himalayan herb that high-end wellness brands in Mumbai were retailing for ₹3,500 per kilogram. By 2026, she earns closer to ₹48,000 a season. The difference? A cooperative that decided … Read more
In Pala taluk of Kottayam district, a 58-year-old rubber tapper named Thankachan rolls a sheet of smoked rubber between his fingers and shakes his head. The price he received last month — approximately ₹155 per kilogram — barely covers his cost of production. Five years ago, it was ₹180. Meanwhile, Thai RSS-3 grade rubber lands … Read more
Somewhere in the sal forests south of Jagdalpur, a 62-year-old Muria Gond woman named Sukhmati carries a headload of tamarind and mahua flowers to a collection centre that her grandmother also walked to. The centre belongs to a cooperative that was registered in 1948 — just months after India‘s independence — and against every reasonable … Read more
In a weekly haat in Koraput district, a Kondh tribal woman named Kamala Majhi spread out her sal seeds, dried mahua flowers, and hill broom grass on a plastic sheet last monsoon. A middleman offered her ₹8 per kilogram for sal seeds — the same seeds that, once processed into sal butter, fetch ₹300 per … Read more
In the winter of 1947, a clerk at a small cooperative credit office in Lahore stuffed ledger books into a jute sack, crossed a border that hadn’t existed six months earlier, and reported for duty in a half-built office in Amritsar. That institution — the Punjab State Cooperative Bank (PSCB) — would go on to … Read more
A dairy farmer in Waikato, New Zealand, earns roughly NZD 8.50 per kilogram of milk solids from Fonterra in a good season. A dairy farmer in Sabarkantha, Gujarat, takes home approximately ₹55-65 per litre from her village cooperative linked to Amul. On paper, the Kiwi farmer looks wealthier. But strip away currency conversions, input costs, … Read more
