Poor Rice Crop was harvested by hand

You fall into a pit easy and you crawl out hard.” This now $250,000 US hole we’ve dug, raising three rice crops without a major harvest, has us clamoring for breathing space. We saved about 12 hectares (30 acres) of rice from our second planting because it was valuable seed, even though drought had seriously damaged the yield. We’d paid about $3.00 per kilogram for this “Breeder’s Seed”, and it was what we intended to plant next season. The yield was poor, but because it was planted on newly cleared jungle, the roots went deep, and we did get about 25 tons of seed. The bad part about this was, as we started harvest, we received one of those scarce rains, and the soil, which had not yet formed a “hardpan” would not support the weight of a combine, so we harvested it by hand. PTL! We have seed for next year.

The third crop is looking pretty good, thanks to three large pumps we have built. Rains are inconsistent, but the rivers are up due to northern flooding, so we can pump water for irrigation. The bad thing about having a good crop when everything around you is decimated is that all the bugs, rats, and diseases seem to concentrate on your crop. I believe we’ll see a harvest in December, and it would never have happened without your help! Thank you to all, especially to special help we received from Foursquare and friends in Singapore! We have clawed our way about half way up this slippery slope.