Isan is an agricultural area with many paddy fields. Its farmers (ชาวนา) are called "the backbone of the nation".
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Working in the paddy fields is a hard job. Only 70 to 100 Baht per day.
Farmers have to get up early at 6 AM. During the day they are working in a
hot muddy water. During the day their back is
bent because they are planting rice. They wear big hats to protect
them-selves against the sun.
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| Working in paddy fields |
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Thai mothers often remind their childen that no rice seeds shall be left in a plate when eating. They shall not forget the hard work of Thai farmers in the paddy fields.
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Paddy fields are filled with 30 centimetres of
water. A soil border closes each field in order to keep the water.
There are no snakes but leeches, which can be as long as a human finger
and as wide as three fingers if they sucked blood. There are also fishes.
Farmers use a specific motor cultivator in order to smooth the
soil.
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| Rice fields |
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The motor cultivator is used in the paddy fields but also is used
as a vehicle when tyres are added to drive on the roads.
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| Motor cultivator |
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Buffalos are not used anymore in the fields. They have been replaced
by the iron buffalos (ควายเหล็ก)
or motor cultivators.
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| Buffaloes |
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Rice seeds are gathered in one field where they grow.
When they are big enough, they are moved to another
field and planted with enough space to grow.
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| Rice fields |
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The farmers make holes in the mud and put inside
the rice plants. If the weather is too hot and water
disappears from the fields, harvest is bad.
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| Green rice fields |
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The rice season is from may to november. When the rice is yellow and mature enough, there are some combine harvesters to extract it from the paddy fields. Those machines are very expensive, about one million Thai Baht. Some Thai farmers rent them in exchange of a part of the harvest. People who possessed such a machine became rich.
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At the end of
the day all farmers gather together around a Mekong bottle and an
energising potion in order to give force.
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| Rice fields |
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Hom Mali, the famous Thai naturally fragrant rice is certainly the world's best rice. Hom Mali rice is grown throughout the dry and salty Thung Kula Ronghai plain, which spreads across the provinces of Roi Et, Surin, Si Sa Ket, Maha Sarakham and Yasothon. Despite the fact that Hom Mali rice can only grow once a year and despite the lower yield than other rice varieties, it became popular within north-eastern farmers due to its attractive selling price. It is also grown in other areas of Thailand. This rice yields about 350kg of grain per rai in the Northeast, 500kg per rai in the North and about 450kg per rai in the Central Plains.
In 1998, Thailand produced about 18.5 million tonnes of rice and exported some 6.37 million tonnes. Rice is cultivated on 56 million rai of land in Thailand. Of this, 30 million rai is in the "ISAN" with Hom Mali rice accounting for two million rai. In 1999 estimation are about 23 million tonnes but only 5.3 million exported due to competition with other countries.
In 2003, Thai farmers are bitter about the effort to develop jasmine rice or Hom Mali flagrant rice from Thai varieties for cultivation in the USA. For them, this is a case of bio-piracy.
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