There is a classroom in a village in Jammu where children come every day to learn and play. The teachers there are creative and passionate about their work, and the community is proud of what they have built. Not far from the same village, women sit at sewing machines in a stitching centre, learning a skill, earning money, and doing it all without leaving their own neighbourhood. Thousands of kilometres south, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, farmers tend rows of chamomile flowers with care and precision, flowers that will end up as herbal tea in cups on the other side of the world.

None of this is incidental. All of it was built by farming communities that chose where their Fairtrade Premium money would go.

In February 2026, Fairtrade NAPP visited eight producer organisations across Jammu and Uttar Pradesh. The visits were introductory ones, the first of a new year, with a straightforward purpose: go to the ground, listen, understand what has been built, and hear what producers need next. 

Eight Visits, Two States

Over twelve days, the visits spanned two distinct agricultural landscapes. Jammu’s basmati-growing plains and Uttar Pradesh’s vast paddy fields and herb-growing regions together reflect the diversity of Fairtrade in practice.

Across rice, herbs, and herbal teas, these eight organisations show how Fairtrade translates into lived realities through infrastructure, skills, and community-led development.

• Nature Bio Food Ltd., Jammu (Rice) FLO ID: 39170
• Star Global Multi Ventures Pvt. Ltd., Jammu (Rice) FLO ID: 37299
• Kisan Samridhi Society, Jammu (Rice) FLO ID: 41821
• Sharshid Overseas Pvt. Ltd., Jammu (Basmati Rice) FLO ID: 43390
• Organic India Farmers, Uttar Pradesh (Herbs and Herbal Teas) FLO ID: 29986
• Nature Bio Food Ltd. (Kotwa), Uttar Pradesh (Rice) FLO ID: 29330
• Nature Pearls Private Limited, Uttar Pradesh (Rice) FLO ID: 40145
• Star Global Multi  Ventures Pvt. Ltd., Nanpara, Uttar Pradesh, (Rice) FLO ID: 45998

All eight visits were carried out by Sayali Rajendra, Deputy Programme Manager for North and Central India, Fairtrade NAPP.

What the Premium Has Made Possible

Ask most people what Fairtrade means, and they will say it means farmers get a fair price. That is true. But what does a fair price actually look like in a village?

 Sometimes it looks like a laser land leveller sitting in a paddy field, making it possible to irrigate more evenly and with less water waste. Sometimes it looks like a solar light in a home that used to go dark after sunset. Sometimes it looks like a sanitary pad distributed to a woman farmer so she does not have to choose between her health and her day's work.

Across all eight producer organisations visited in February 2026, Fairtrade Premium funds had been used to create exactly these kinds of assets. At Nature Bio Food Limited in Akhnoor, Jammu, the list included a Learning and Play Centre, a Biochar Unit, a Bio Resource Centre, a sports ground, an organic input preparation facility, and a rotating tailoring centre. At Nature Bio Food Limited in Kotwa, Uttar Pradesh, the premium had funded a computer learning centre, a stitching unit for women, solar lights, organic input preparation, and a laser land leveller.

At Star Global in Nanpara, Uttar Pradesh, the premium paid for ceiling fans, blankets, and seed equipment. In Jammu's RS Pura area, at Sharshid Overseas, producers received a seed planter, a harvester, and tarpaulins for covering paddy after harvest. At Organic India in Azamgarh, cow pat pits for organic soil enrichment, seed distribution, moringa plantations, and solar lights had all been funded through the premium. What stands out is not just what was built, but how. These were not externally designed interventions. They were identified through collective decision-making, led by Producer Executive Bodies and farmer committees. The governance of impact remains firmly with the producers themselves.

The People  behind the Impact

Behind every premium project is a person who decided it mattered and made it happen.

Infrastructure tells one part of the story. People complete it.

At Sharshid Overseas in RS Pura, Jammu, Mrs. Chhaya is a member of the Producer Executive Body. She is also the person running the stitching centre that the premium funded. She teaches women in her community a skill, manages the day-to-day of the centre, and sits in the room where Fairtrade decisions get made. Her work represents what Fairtrade means when it says it wants women to lead, not just participate.

At the Nature Bio Food Limited Learning and Play Centre in Akhnoor, the teachers are the heart of it. The centre runs because people who care about children's learning keep showing up. The community maintains the space. The premium funded the building. The people sustain what the building holds.

In Azamgarh, the Organic India farmers who grow chamomile flowers are not just supplying an ingredient for a herbal tea bag. They are cultivating a specific variety, at the right time, with the knowledge to dry it correctly and deliver it in a form that meets quality standards. That expertise did not appear overnight. It was built through training, experience, and the confidence that comes from being part of a Fairtrade supply chain.

From Questions to Action: Farmers Shaping the Way Forward

Something that stood out across these eight visits was that the producers were not waiting to be told what to think. They came to conversations with their own questions, and those questions were sharp.

Across all eight visits, one thing was clear: producers are not passive participants. They are informed stakeholders asking the right questions and pushing the system forward.

In Uttar Pradesh, producers asked about carbon credits. They had heard that farming practices like water management and reducing emissions could generate income beyond what the crop itself earns. They wanted to know how that works, and whether Fairtrade could help them access it. A water management and greenhouse gas emissions workshop planned for later in 2026 in Varanasi will begin to answer that question in practical terms.

In Jammu, the visit to Kisan Samridhi led to a meeting at Shere-e-Kashmir Agriculture University. Fairtrade NAPP met the Head of the Department of Pathology and a faculty member from the same department to explore collaboration on technical training for Fairtrade-certified rice producers. The university showed genuine interest. They went on to submit a formal proposal for a training programme that would bring university expertise directly to the farms. They also expressed interest in scaling up organic rice cultivation in the region.

This kind of connection between a producer organisation and an academic institution does not happen automatically. It takes someone to make the introduction, to explain what the farmers need, and to find common ground. That is what these visits made possible.

A shared direction

Through 2026, Fairtrade NAPP will be back in these regions. Cluster meetings will bring producers from different organisations together to share what they know. A workshop in Varanasi will work through water management and greenhouse gas emissions in rice cultivation. Sessions on human rights and environmental due diligence will be held, along with programmes focused on women and youth in agriculture. The university collaboration proposal is being processed.

Digital tools like WhatsApp groups and reporting platforms will ensure that learning and communication continue beyond field visits.

These visits were not about introducing Fairtrade to communities. They were about understanding how far it has already come and where it can go next.

What stands out across Jammu and Uttar Pradesh is a consistent pattern: when farmers are given agency, they invest not just in productivity, but in people, knowledge, and long-term resilience.

The way forward is already taking shape in the questions farmers are asking, the partnerships being formed, and the systems being strengthened.