The Fall Rice Harvest

When I arrived in Da Nang in early June, the rice fields were a rich green and each stem was half sticking out of the wet marsh.



Now the fields are dry and the rice is golden, as we approach the end of the dry season here in Da Nang it is time to harvest the rice.











I had the opportunity to go out to the field, I even helped out for a few hours!! It really reminded me of summers spent helping my neighbours haying back home in Bloomfield!! However, rice harvesting, in Vietnam at least, is much more labour intensive.















First, you must cut the rice stalks with a reaping hook (or sickle).



Then the cut stalks are placed in small piles as shown in this picture.




Once about 2 saos (1 sao = 500m2)have been cut, the small piles are carried by hand to one large pile. Once all the rice is collected they wait for the tumbling machine to come. The farmers around the community share the use of a tumbling machine, which trashes the rice stalks around to knock the rice grains off and toss the remaining part of the plant back into the field. The left over plant is burnt onsite and spread around the field for fertilizer. Before most families had gas stoves, the left over stalks were taken home with the help of the water buffalo and it was used for fires to cook the family meals.




Once the grains are sorted out of the stalk (each stalk has about 30-40 grains) they are poured into 50lbs bags.





All the farmers in the community work together to help each other harvest the rice. Each land owner then takes their crop home to dry out the grains. This takes about 3 or 4 days of dry weather....which can be difficult at the beginning of the rainy season. The family must keep an eye on the clouds and make sure to bag up the grains before they get wet!!




Once the rice grains are finally dry they are taken again to a communal tumbler machine or mill. After the small yellow husk on each grain is removed, the rice is finally ready for consumption!

I am not sure if this is accurate but from what I have learned about the rice process, a single grain of rice could pass through the human hand about 50 times before finally being served at the dinner table!! Hope this makes you appreciate the little white grains just a bit more....it certainly did for me:-)

Here are a few hard workers stopping for a much deserved lunch break. Of course they bring out the famous local dish, My Quang (My = pronounced 'me' means noodle, Quang is the province it originated) for everyone to have for lunch. You guessed it, the noodles are made of rice, and it is served with fresh shrimp, fish sauce, green vegetables are added just before you take a bit for some extra crunch!

Recent Flooding in Northern Vietnam

Many of the mountainous areas of Vietnam are vulnerable to flash floods and landslides. The people most affected by these natural disasters are usually the poorest of the poor and/or ethnic minorities. Much work has been done recently to assist these communities prepare for disaster mitigation, however, clear cutting in some of these areas has increased the frequency and gravity of these disasters. Even though these currently happenings are in the north, the low laying areas of Da Nang are also very vulnerable.

See below an article from the BBC about recent flooding in Northern Vietnam.

Dozens killed in Vietnam floods

At least 62 people in northern Vietnam have been killed by flash floods and landslides caused by a tropical storm.

Dozens of people are missing and entire villages have been cut off in Lao Cai, the worst-affected province.

A rescue effort led by the army is under way but is being hampered by the severe weather.

Tropical storm Kammuri, which came in from the Gulf of Tonkin and made landfall on Friday, hit China with rain and winds earlier in the week.

Officials in the mountainous province of Lao Cai, which borders China, told news agencies that tens of thousands of people had been stranded after roads were washed away.




Further landslides have been predicted, sparking fears that the death toll could rise.

Mud and water

The government said that more than 60 people were missing in several northern provinces, including Lao Cai. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed.

Red River in Lao Cai
Rivers in the worst-hit province of Lao Cai have risen

In Yen Bai, an official told Associated Press that some people were killed in their homes as they slept.

"The water and walls of mud came at night when everybody was sleeping," Luong Tuan Anh was quoted as saying. "They could not run to safety."

Kammuri is the ninth tropical storm of the year.

Earlier in the week, China evacuated nearly 400,000 people and called thousands of vessels back to port as the storm lashed its southern coast.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7551529.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7553797.stm