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If you are growing rice in the traditional way, that is, without
modern machines and chemicals, it is most likely that you
would be living in a developing country somewhere in the tropical,
sub-tropical or temperate areas where rice grows best.
You have a very simple house next to your paddy field without
electricity or gas, living in constant fear that unexpected
hurricanes, floods or droughts will destroy your crop and
your only source of food. The children in your rather large
family do not go to school - instead, they labour on the fields
for twelve hours each day of the week, helping the family
to feed themselves. Nice. Now to choose your soil.
The best soil to grow rice in is soil that contains clay and
is slightly acidic. The temperatures in the area should be
as even as possible to ensure that crops ripen at the right
time. It is possible to plant rice on hillsides that receive
regular rain, but the more ideal place would be near rivers
that flood during specific times of the year so that the crop
receives sufficient water. River deltas are also good places.
For all areas, the requirements are simple: appropriate soil,
even temperature, plenty of water and sun.
(Unfortunately, if you are not living in a place with plenty
of water and the right temperatures, it becomes quite impossible
to grow rice. Find something else to support your family with.)
Now that you have your land, you need to prepare it before
planting the rice seeds/shoots.
Ploughing the land
You don't have much money, so you'll have to manage with what
you have. Using a chankol (a type of hoe), a ribbed roller,
a harrow or a buffalo pulling a simple implement, plough the
land until the soil is loose. (The soil should be wet.) Leave
the land for 3-4 weeks while the rice seeds are germinating
in a nursery, a small corner of your land set aside to let
the rice seeds grow shoots so they are more hardy before they
are planted into the field.
Once the seeds in the nursery are ready, plough your field
again to remove any weeds, then smooth it with a plank of
wood pulled by your buffalo. Around each section of the rice
paddy, heap up mounds of earth (called bunds) that divide
the field and dam in water. You are now ready to do the backbreaking
task of transplanting the young rice plants from the nursery
to the soil, one by one.
The plants should be spaced approx. 20-30cm apart. During
the planting, your entire field needs to be flooded, which
is the way it will stay for most of the time that your rice
is growing.
Waiting for your rice Š
Weeds: pull them up by hand after draining the field, then
flood the field again.
Pests: birds, army worms, rice stem borers, rodents, snails,
wild buffaloes, ducks and geese. Put a netting over the plants
or give your children tin cans to rattle to scare the birds
away. (That is about all the play they will get in their lifetimes.)
For insects, use pesticides or remove snails by hand. Use
poison or traps for any rodents. Scarecrows and gas guns also
work.
Remember, if you lose your crop, your family will starve and
die of starvation.
Water: although rice needs a lot of water, too much doesn't
do it good. The water needs to be drained now and then.
After 80 to 200 days, your rice plants should look similar
to grass with a yellowish, gold colour with the panicle drooping
over. If that is your field, drain the field and rejoice!
Your crop is ready to harvest.
In developing countries, rice is cut by hand, not with combine
harvesters, which cut the rice plants, separate the edible
part from the straw and clean the straw, so it is a much more
time consuming job.
Depending on how you decide to cut it, you will be using different
tools.
Cutting the rice long straw means cutting it right near the
base. In this method, a short palm knife is used. The cut
straw (still with the rice grains) is left on the field to
dry a bit before being collected.
In short straw, the rice plant is cut up near the top. A large,
curved scythe is used and the part containing the grain is
taken to the your home to dry. The remaining straw is left
to dry before it is taken away for animal feed or bedding.
But the rice is not ready yet. You will find that the rice,
still in its protective husk, is still attached to the stalk
of the plant. Threshing is the process which separates the
two, and winnowing cleans the grain.
Threshing Methods
The stalk and grain is whipped against a mound of earth, a
log or a wooden slat. The grain is then collected in a tub.
Threshing floors - left on floor for cows/buffaloes to trample
on. Also left on roads and paths for local traffic to pass
over.
Machines - you may be able to afford a simple hand/foot operated
machine or even powered ones.
After that, winnowing then rids threshed paddy of dust, husks,
stones and leaves before the grain is milled.
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