PATTERNS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SALES | 41 CASE 2 THE BENEFITS AND BURDENS OF A TIGHT VALUE CHAIN: THE MALIKS (PAKISTAN) Saif –ali, a participant in the Smallholder ‰iaries whatever they had on agricultural production­ Saif in aistan, earned agricultural production income spent a total of ©S±Ÿ’“ on fertili—er, pesticides, and from selling mil from his cows and growing wheat seed in this period­ ¦verall the family earned nega- and rice, which he sold to three arthis (see igure tive income (i­e­, spending on farming inputs …Ÿ)­ ™henever he needed funds, he could borrow exceeded revenue from farm sales) during those from any of the arthis, but he ept multiple rela- months, due to these significant expenditures on fer- tionships going with arthis in the event that one of tili—er and pesticides­ Œo mae ends meet, the family them would not allow him to borrow the amount he relied on credit and sale of mil­ needed­ ests destroyed much of their rice crop in ¦cto- Saif also looed for off-farm wor to supplement ber, but ˜ovember was the best month for the fam- his income from agricultural production­ “Œhe ily­ ˜ovember is an important time to harvest in the money we mae from our crops alone is not enough,” area, and his sons were able to wor on other farms he explained­ “Œhat’s why we wor on other farms­ to help mae up for the loss in ¦ctober­ ¦ur crops do suffer a little bit, since we aren’t able to Žanuary was again difficult as the family had no give them our full time­” ™hat other sources of cash­ Saif had been earning money almost every income he could find were unstable­ Saif was the month by cutting trees for the forest department­ main breadwinner, and the family worried about £ut at the end of ‰ecember, the forest department their economic condition­ told him it did not need him anymore and that it Œhe most difficult periods for the –alis were in would call him again only if wor was available­ ˆll Žuly and ˆugust and the winter months, the stretches household expenses were purchased on credit­ between harvests­ ‰uring these periods, they spent FIGURE 13: Main financial transactions of the Maliks (PAKISTAN), JULY 2014–JUNE 2015 (US$) November December $700 The family experiences a Saif loses his job good financial month. Saif at the forestry April $600 was able to sell his rice crop department. The family’s income and his sons were able to picks up again with $500 work on others’ farms the wheat harvest. during the harvest. January $400 The family has no cash in July/August January. All of their $300 He spends US$304 on expenses are on credit. farming inputs $200 $100 $0 JulAug SepOct NovDec JanFeb Mar Apr MayJun –$100 –$200 –$300 Net income Household expenditures