Avoiding the heat, farmers go to work at night

Promoting mechanization in agricultural production not only reduces material costs, increases productivity and crop efficiency, but also contributes significantly to liberating farmers' labor. Up to this point, the land preparation and harvesting stages in the rice production process in our province have basically been mechanized. For many reasons (deep, fragmented fields, etc.), farmers still have to plant manually in many areas. In the 2024 crop season, farmers in all localities will take advantage of going to the fields to plant at night and early to ensure planting in the best time frame, while avoiding the intense heat of late June and early July.

In the 2024 crop season, Ms. Vo Thi Lien's family (Phuc Ha 1 village, Hop Ly commune, Ly Nhan district) planted 9 sao of rice. Because the field is located in a low-lying area, Ms. Lien's family had to manually plant more than 4 sao (the remaining 4 sao were sown). To ensure the planting schedule, Ms. Lien temporarily stopped trading, stayed up late, and woke up early to go to the fields to plant rice. Having become accustomed to the seasonal planting scene, to avoid the intense heat of late June and early July of summer, Ms. Lien took advantage of the opportunity to bring lamps to the fields to plant at night and early in the morning.

Sharing about farming work, Ms. Lien happily said: Farming is now much easier than before. It takes a lot of effort, especially the area that has to be planted by hand, but my family only has more than 4 sao of this area. During the season, I have to work hard to level the field, plant by hand, and finish in about a week. Through conversation, it is known that during the crop season, Ms. Lien often wakes up at 3 am and is already in the field at 4 am. She plants until around 6 am, then takes a few minutes to rest, eat breakfast (sticky rice or banh chung...), drink water to regain strength, and then goes back to planting. On hot sunny days, she only plants until around 9 am, then takes a break, and goes home to take care of family matters. In the afternoon, on hot sunny days, the water surface exudes steaming heat, and it takes more than 4 pm to go back to the field to plant rice. To keep up with the season, depending on the area of ​​​​planting, farmers often carry lamps to plant until 9 or 10 pm before returning home; some people plant later because of the large area...

Ms. Lien shared more: During the harvest days, our hands and feet are always covered in mud, our faces and bodies are drenched in sweat; despite the hardship, the women in the village folk dance team still maintain their practice, although they do not have all the members as usual. During the harvest days, 30 minutes later than usual, around 7:30 pm, the women finish their work and make an appointment to go to the village cultural house to practice folk dance to relax their minds, reduce stress and fatigue, improve their health, and create motivation to work, produce, and do business more effectively.

Farmers work hard early in the morning to plant rice.

Having been involved in farming since childhood, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien (Hoa Trung residential group, Binh My town, Binh Luc district) is very good at farming. Because her family's land is also in a low-lying area, Ms. Lien also has to manually plant several sao. Ms. Lien shared: Manual planting is now very expensive, up to 400,000 VND/day (8 hours), if hired, it is 50,000 VND/hour. During the harvest season, to avoid the heat and keep up with the schedule, at night, people wear lamps to plant at night, the fields are very bright like stars... Knowing how to help her parents in the fields since childhood, now over 50 years old, Ms. Lien still plants very quickly, only 8 hours to do one sao. During the harvest season, staying up late, waking up early, and taking advantage of the night to plant, sometimes Ms. Lien can plant up to 2 sao. According to Ms. Lien, the seasonal planting work is hard and tiring but only lasts about a week. Compared to the past, farming is much easier now. Therefore, although they have to work hard by hand in low-lying areas, people still stay up late and wake up early to plant rice so that at the end of the season they can have rice to serve their family's daily needs.

Besides the method of sowing and transplanting by machine..., currently our province still has many areas that have to be transplanted manually due to low-lying and fragmented fields. Like Ms. Vo Thi Lien and Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, during the harvest season, most farming families with areas that have to be transplanted by hand take advantage of the time to arrange labor to transplant at night and early in the morning to ensure the best time frame, while avoiding the hot and humid summer sun. Although it is hard and tiring, everyone makes an effort, tries to overcome all difficulties, works hard, and diligently greens the fields with the hope and expectation that on harvest day there will be a bumper crop.

Pham Hien

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep/tranh-nang-nong-nong-dan-di-cay-dem-128922.html