Rice harvesting season in North Vietnam

Just outside the Hanoi airport, we drove past miles and miles of rice fields. Farmers were harvesting during sunset and were also burning some of the rice grass to fertize the fields for the next rice growing.

The same land is reused 2 to 3 (depending on the type of rice) times a year for rice growing. The water irrigation system is created and provided free of charge, by the Vietnamese government, to the landowner farmers to encourage them to remain in the rice growing business.

 

This is what rice looks like close up.

 

 

 Workers out in the field. Usually neighbors help out each other during the harvest season.

 

The workers wear long sleeves to protect themselves from getting cut by the prickly husk.

 

 

School kids riding by after class.

 

 

 

 

Taking the rice bundles away for thrashing later.

 

 

 

Workers wear no boots, they are bared foot, it is easier for them to move in the mud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bundles are then carted away and can be taken to machine that separates the grass part from the kernels. 

 

 

The owners of the machine are in blue. They are compensated by bags of rice or money by the local farmers. This machine is a local invention for this purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

Or you can do it the old fashion way, they lay the grass out on the streets and people walking on it or driving over it will separate the kernels from the grass part for them.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the villages we visited, the owner created their own machine to separate the rice out. It looks like a round brush. When the machine is on, it spins and you run the grass over the brush to separate out the kernels.

 

 

 

 

Notice that there are still bits of grass in the pile of grains, those will need to be picked out by hands later.

 

 

 

In the communal space, they then dry out the rice in the sun, takes about 2-3 hours.

 

 

 

Walking on the rice, turns over the rice for drying. It is also any opportunity to pick out any bits of grass that may still makes it way in the bags of rice.

 

 

Rice in bags that still needs to be dried.

 

 

 

The darker yellow sections means the grains needs to be dried some more.

 

 

Grains arrive in bags and needs to be dried.

 

 

 

 

The rice husk will still need to be separated from the rice. I didn't get to see how that part gets done. Wow, a lot of work to get rice to my table. 

 

So much effort goes into producing the rice for my meals, I have a new appreciation for it.