Still watching the rice fields (an update)

It's about a month since my "rice rambles" (Why am I watching the rice field?) and it's time to pass on an update.  Growth has been steady, despite recent wet weather.  We are still in the "dry season", but "dry" is a relative term and is more like "not as wet as the wet season".  We've had regular heavy falls and some have caused localised flooding of nearby low lying areas. 


The padi after a month.  Drying out between floodings.



It is customary to alternately flood and dry the fields to encourage maximum growth. The regular flooding not only waters the plant (rice is a thirsty crop) but greatly reduces the growth of weeds and competing plants. As the fields dry out the farmer removes weeds by hand - rice farming really is a labour intensive activity. Flooding is managed by directing irrigation water into channels feeding the upper fields so that water reticulates down to lower levels through small gaps in the retaining walls which define the levels of the fields. When enough water has been added the farmer hoes soil back into the gaps to stop water movement. It seems to take about a week for the water to soak in or evaporate away to leave the field in muddy state. The frequent rain sometimes keeps water levels topped up so the field stays wet for longer, but I guess the old farmers take the vagaries of the weather in their stride.

In Bali the rice field is called a "sawah". We know them as "paddy fields". "Paddy" is the anglicised form of the Malay and Indonesian word "padi" which is the word used for rice on the stalk and growing in the field, not for harvested rice grains ("beras") or cooked rice grains ("nasi").


After a month's growth the plants ("padi") in the field beside the driveway are about 50cm high. Depending on the variety planted, crops grow to between 1 and 2 metres before maturity and harvesting. The farmer has other fields beside the one I see regularly. One, just beyond the field I am watching, was planted earlier and heads of rice grain are appearing. To keep birds away the farmer (or an elderly female relative) regularly emerges from the small hut between the fields and walks around the field boundary with a stick about a metre long to which is attached a piece of black plastic about 50 cm square. The stick looks like a small flag which is waved and then snapped back and forth to make a cracking sound which is meant to keep birds away.


Strings, flags and rattlers above a field bordering the College.

Another way to scare birds is to place many bamboo poles upright around the field and run strings between them. Some poles sport flags, or large plastic bags; some have little wind vanes or windmills that whir as the blades turn. Along the strings are hung flags or scraps of plastic, tin cans with stones or ball bearings, and other things that rattle. When birds are spotted, or just as a precaution, the farmer tugs on a couple of strings which cause all the poles, banners, cans and so on to shake, flap or rattle. When I'm outside I hear the cans rattling throughout the day.


Around Dalung well managed rice fields often produce 3 crops a year, with an average crop cycle of 4 months.  As this field was planted a couple of weeks after my arrival I doubt I'll see the full cycle, but I have seen all stages in other fields around the college.

Grain forms in a field beside the College

Rice fact of the day:  On average, Australia produces enough rice to feed 40 million people one meal of rice a day for a year (source: Rice Growers Association of Aust).  That's about 1% of world consumption.