Rice the Golden Grain 1 times 1000

My Grandfather's Traditional Rice Farming

Being a farmer is not an easy job, you have to work hard from early in the morning till dark and within four months your one grain of rice can be multiplied to a thousand.

    Rice farming is a job I inherited from my father whom he also inherited from my grandfather, in short the blood of a farmer runs through my veins. For me farming is not a profession but instead this is my passion.

Anyone wants to know how you can multiply a grain of rice to a thousand?

On this post I'll walk you through to this journey.

    For me there are two types of rice farming, first is the traditional(not using any machinery) and the second one is the Mechanical/Technological Rice farming. Today I'll talk about the Traditional Rice Farming that my grandfather used during his time. Let me also add that since they don't have water pumps that time they usually plant only during rainy season in upland areas.

    These are some of the basic tools/materials needed:

1. bolo
2. sickle
3. plow (carabao drawn)
   
4. hoe
5. rice seeds
6. rake
7. Carabao (preferably)
   

These are the steps to follow:

Clearing - clearing the rice field from any foreign objects and tall grass is the first step. Bolo, sickle, hoe and rake are the basic tools needed.

Plowing - plowing the soil is the next step. To speed up the process my grandfather used a carabao driven plow and usually together with his six farm neighbors to plow his field and in return he will help to plow his farm neighbor's field as well, this is what they called "palusong."

Harrowing - two days after plowing, the soil needs to be harrowed to loosen and level the rice paddy for easy rice transplanting or direct seeding.

Transplanting/direct seeding - economically my grandfather always use direct seeding. The pre germinated rice seeds can now be thrown evenly on the prepared rice paddy. For a better distance of seeds/plants an average of 80 kilos of rice seeds is needed for a 1 hectare. Make sure to drain the excess water in the rice field the next day after the direct seeding because if not the seeds will "drown" or they will not grow.

Water Management - after 10 to 12 days after direct seeding the rice plant will be around 4 to 5 inches high, allow the rice filed to stock water from rain up to 2 inches high. The water must be maintained up until two weeks before harvesting.

Soil Fertility - to fertilize the soil my grandfather used 4 sacks of dried chicken dung compost mixed with burnt rice hulls 14 days after direct seeding and additional 2 sacks after 30 days of first application for "top dress"(last fertilizer application).

Weed Management - weeds must be plucked manually as they are competing with rice from the nutrients of the soil and weeds usually attracts insects and pests. This phase is the most time consuming part of rice farming.

Pest Management - do you wonder why in the last part of "Bahay Kubo" it says "sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga"? If yes this is the reason. Linga(sesame) is a pest attractant that's why my grandfather planted this plant around his rice field to keep pests/insects from his precious rice plants.

Harvesting - this phase is divided into 3 parts:

1. Cutting 'paggapas' - first the stalk with the seeds will be cut and piled up in one place.
   
2. Threshing 'paghampas' - next to separate the seeds from the stalk, they manually hit the stalk in a wooden platform.
   
   
   
3. Winnowing 'pagtatahip' - this time to separate only the good seeds from the undeveloped grains. This is the time when you will hear the farmers whistle to call for a strong wind to ease the job of removing the 'tulyapis'(undeveloped rice grains).
   

To summarize it up, traditional rice farming is pure hard work, dedication and love is essential for a grain of rice to be multiplied into a thousand. This is the reason why our grand parents scold us when there are left over rice in our plate. It is also easy to identify if a person has a farmers blood, watch him/her eats and not a grain of rice will be left on his/her plate. Just like for me every grain of rice is worth its weight in gold.

Images credited to the links below:

https://borgenproject.org/sustainable-agriculture-in-the-philippines/
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-tools-agriculture-hund-toolse-odds-agricultural-technique-image66650871
https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/agriculture-9ggr/20160101/281651074248448
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/step-by-step-production/growth/planting/direct-seeding
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/composted-uncomposted-chicken-manure-45602.html
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/training/fact-sheets/pest-management/weeds/manual-weed-control
https://www.123rf.com/photo_100837103_close-up-steam-rice-on-plate-soft-focus.html