Rice is the staple diet in Cambodia, and an important commodity. Planting rice paddies begins after the rainy season starts. Farmers have been planting rice near Kampong Cham for the last three weeks.
I have made three trips into the fields to photograph preparation, planting and planting of rice shoots.
Rice is a labor-intensive crop. After a small area is prepared, rice seed is sown, and after about three months is ready for harvest. The seedlings are pulled by hand; dirt and water knocked off against the farmer's leg, and then placed in bundles.
Both traditional and modern plowing methods are quite physical, requiring a farmer to push his plow through muddy fields. The traditional method uses animals and a wooden plow with a metal blade. In the last photo, both men are exerting a lot of effort to keep the plow making a furrow.
The boy is working hard to keep the tractor going straight, he has to run to keep up when he turns the tractor at the end of the field.
When the paddy is ready, the bundles of seedlings are planted by hand, with shoots peeled from the bundle and placed in the mud by hand. The process looks back-breaking.
The seedlings are quite yellow just before planting and after planting for several days. I think this is because they are pulled from the mud and the water and soil is removed from the roots. In addition the top of the seedling is trimmed off; all of this must be a bit of a shock to the seedling.
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