Project Sekong 2012: Villages move closer to doubling their rice crop. The paths of the new irrigation ditches are cleared of UXO.

February 6, 2012
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We've removed the threat of UXO from the irrigation project. Now villagers have begun their part, digging the new ditches by hand. They're eager, but its going to take a lot of effort.

Report 14

We’ve finished clearing the path for the new irrigation ditches in Dak Den and Dak Dor.  Workers in both villages are already hard at it, digging the ditches, hoping to have water flowing to their land in time to plant an early rice crop before the monsoon rains arrive.

People are confident that the irrigation project will enable them to harvest two rice crops a year.  Now, they get but a single crop, planted after the monsoon ends and harvested in late fall.  The second crop that villagers aspire to will be planted this time in the dry season, kept alive through irrigation, and harvested before the rains begin.  (People tell us that raising rice during the rainy season is impossible. Any rice still standing when the monsoon rains hit will be either beaten down or washed away).

Interestingly, all the farmers we’ve interviewed are eager to harvest a second crop but are modest, even cautious, about how that increased production might alter their lives.

Its the driest time of year but some lucky farmers who have land that can be irrigated already have thriving rice crops. After the new ditches are dug many more families will be able to harvest a second annual crop.

I’ve been assuming that people will continue to harvest, store, and consume all of one harvest, and then carry most of the second crop to market.  But… people here tell me they look forward to having more rice to consume themselves and plan to take just a portion of the additional crop to market (if any goes at all).

When we ask people what they will do with money earned from the sale of any surplus rice, their expectations are modest.  Most tell us they will buy sugar, salt, spices, soap, cooking oil and other staples that they need but cannot grow themselves.

Being an optimist, I’m inclined to count my chickens before they hatch; sometimes, I’m counting before the eggs are even laid.  In contrast these Lao farmers, so often knocked around by life, are keeping their aspirations in check.  They’ll probably refrain from daydreaming about new luxuries until the new crop is safely harvested and stored in the bin.

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