76 | SMALLHOLDER DIARIES CASE 6 RELYING ON CREDIT IN MONTHS BETWEEN HARVEST: THE BHATTIS (PAKISTAN) Œhe experience of ˆbdul and ªania £hatti, one of the Œhe £hattis grew two main crops, rice in ˜ovem- Smallholder ‰iaries households in aistan, demon- ber and wheat in –ay, as well as a variety of vegetables strates how families in this sample used their relatively and fodder to feed their three buffalos and one cow­ broad financial portfolio to access goods and cash when Œhey relied heavily on revenues from selling mil­ they needed it most­ ™hile the family had savings both Œhe £hattis incurred significant spending on agricul- at home and with its arthi, and also lent money to its tural inputs throughout the year and spent substantial family and friends, it was the liability side of its portfo- amounts on their agricultural production each month lio—informal credit at the store, agent (arthi) credit, relative to what they spent on food­ €n ˜ovember and occasionally borrowing from friends and family— alone, their spending on agriculture reached ©S±””ž that carried them through tough times­ Œhe family’s (see igure Ÿ•)­ views of the arthi were also typical across the sample­ inancially, ˜ovember was the best month for the ˆbdul, ”•, and ªania, “¡, lived with their son and £hattis­ Œhey sold their rice and, as a result, were able daughter on a small plot of land (…­‘ hectares)­ Œheir to spend the most­ £ut the family had the hardest time older son and his wife lived in their house, too, but ept budgeting in Žuly, ‰ecember, and Žanuary, and faced their expenditures separate­ Œhough ˆbdul and ªania unexpected hardships throughout the year­ €n Žuly, all were not educated, their ……-year-old daughter was the vegetables that ˆbdul had been growing were enrolled in school­ Œheir younger son, …Ÿ, preferred to destroyed, costing him about ©S±”’‘­ Œhen in Sep- wor rather than go to school and was training in a tember, bad weather completely destroyed the fodder worshop­ crop as well­ FIGURE 37: Total spending on food-related items and agricultural inputs: The Bhattis (PAKISTAN), JULY 2014–JUNE 2015 (US$) $700 $600 $500 $400 $300 $200 $100 $0 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb MarApr May Jun Seeds, fertilizer and agricultural equipment Groceries and cooked food