Before me were clumps of rice plants heavy with grain, their grains large, round, and plump. Standing in the middle of the field, I could feel the gentle aroma of rice ready for harvest. Unlike the familiar image of rice plants in fields with embankments to retain water, here, the rice grows right on the hillside. Between the clumps of rice plants are patches of land where the farmers use hoes to weed.
What piqued my curiosity as a first-time visitor to the rice paddies was the familiar work of Mrs. Tan U May in Ban Pho village. Her family maintains about 1.5 hectares of upland rice. Each year, from preparing the land and sowing seeds to caring for the plants and selecting the right seeds, most of the work relies on the experience the family has accumulated over many seasons.
Ms. May explained that in upland rice farming, there is no sowing or transplanting of seedlings; rice seeds are sown directly into the fields, and there is no controlled irrigation, so the rice plants grow thanks to the rain.