Planting Rice in Angke Jeay Village

On our village walk  in Angke Jeay Village located in Kampot Province, Pastor Luke took a detour and led us down a dirt road to the rice fields. The rainy season has begun and therefore rice is being planted. Rice is the staple food here in Cambodia and farmed by 75% of the population. Some of the land is still plowed by traditional oxen and plow but more and more are using motorized plow-tractors. The field is plowed when the soil is wet or flooded. Next, the rice is manually transplanted and this is a very labor intensive process. Chemicals are used to control the pests and the weeds and some are also manually weeded. Animal manure and fertilizers are also used in the fields.

Crops are manually harvested and tied into sheaves. These sheaves are placed on top of the standing stubble or transported to a central threshing site where they are dried for 2-3 days. Depending on location, threshing is done at a central site in the field or in the village.

The grain is then removed from the panicle, which is the small pollinated “flowers” at the top of the plant.  This will either be done by hand or by a mechanical thresher.

The MTW summer interns decided to help with the planting this morning.