Abstract
Supply chains that originate at the roots in small farms and then wind their way up through the informal economy to the progressively more structured formal economy are messy. Their spirit and challenges defy neat flowcharts and superficial or simplistic approaches, just as they defy attempts at blueprint solutions. Such is the case with the community level cotton supply chain in Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh Provinces. Community level cotton production is the base, often remote, on which the textile value chain rests, supporting spinning, weaving, processing, printing, manufacturing (fabric or cloth, readymade garments, clothing, knitwear and cottonseed oil, among other products). In these cotton growing communities, the world’s ‘white gold’ crop is produced, mostly through traditional agricultural practices echo of the past, but striving towards a more efficient and productive future with decent work and fundamental principles and rights at work.