Without pesticides, weeds and bugs multiply. Children leave school to weed and harvest. Again yields are lower. With little home-grown food and without cash to buy fish or meat, family nutrition and health suffer. If the mother becomes ill with Aids, the cycle of asset and labour loss is repeated.
Families withdraw into subsistence farming.
Overall production of cash crops drops. On the political side, a shift from customary land tenure to freehold could lead to distress land sales when the man falls sick. Also, communities are evolving ingenious responses, such as sharing farm chores, house repairs and child care, and changing cultural practices like expensive funerals.