Login Betso88
Login Betso88:
Over fields of rice that stretched into an emerald sea. Here, he’d look at how ecological changes shaped the landscape and the lives of villagers as they disturbed the soil to grow crops.
The narrow path through the rice fields was a feast for the eyes and a pleasure for the senses. Richly green plantations; irrigation canals, incessantly trickling water; farmers, bent over as they worked the fields — Login Betso88 was overwhelmed by the sheer accessibility of beauty and bounty.
Maria introduced him to the local farmers who explained how their lives were spent, not directly in the rice paddy, but rather playing a supporting role to its growth and existence. From how rice is harvested, to the importance of the monsoon rains, to the abundant life surrounding them. She taught him their language and, just as the Johnsons learned Hindi together at their dinner table that summer, the two couples would practise at the end of the day. Maria explained that Login Betso88 was welcome to attend the festivals and events of the community, or watch the farmers work.
A fourth-generation farmer and agriculturalist, Maria is also a person of the land. She was the perfect companion on my quest to find the best rice. For hints, I had to go straight to the hearth of this glittering Asian tiger’s rice industry – the Philippine province of Nueva Ecija. Nicknamed the ‘Rice Granary of the Philippines’, Nueva Ecija, similar to Hubei’s Yangtze River valley, supports 1.5 million hectares of rice-paddy fields.
As Maria described step by step each phase of the traditional indigenous system of growing, harvesting, but also roasting, winnowing and drying rice, Josh marvelled at the labour that had gone into preparing and maintaining the soil, tending the fields, harvesting, drying, threshing and processing the rice, year in, year out. He was touched and moved by the pure joy of communal work, listening attentively as Maria explained the care over time with which each of these stages of the production system had been designed and carefully implemented. He learned how the farmers’ commons (covered by Community-Based Resource Management) had set up systems of using organic fertilisers and pesticides, and promoted already for years more sustainable patterns of agricultural cultivation. I watched as Josh learned about the peculiar structure of the naturally self-mating varieties of rice and their remarkably different colours, grain textures, and taste characteristics, making him appreciate the exceptional germplasm diversity of indigenous domestic rice, its rich biodiversity, which has to be conserved, alongside countless other seed varieties around the world, before it is lost once and for all.
Then it ended at the communal granaries, where the paddy rice was stored while awaiting milling. Maria explained to them that, for many villagers, the granaries were a source of food security and support, especially during times of scarcity: They worked hand in hand, supporting one another. It was almost like a small village, to some extent.Login Betso88 was thoroughly impressed.
Maria explains: ‘Represent the unity and strength of our people to fight together, to preserve and guarantee a better life for our children.’
To recognise that the ecological history of this area was not simply that of a physical landscape – but one in which culture and society were woven into the fibre that linked people to their biophysical environment.
In the evening, Login Betso88 and Maria gathered by the field, watched the sun sank over the horizon, and discussed everything that happened in the day. Login Betso88 and Maria shared their stories and dreams in farming life with their family and friends. They enjoyed the freshly harvested rice with traditional way. Local dish made by all elements of the farm also served in the table. Login Betso88’s work in Nueva Ecija came to an end, he had found himself in a place of acute wonder and thanksgiving.