Digging Dikes & Canals To Grow More Rice

We are about 150 tons short of meeting our rice needs to feed our orphans and widows for 2012, due to the drought, and then floods, of 2011. So, I encouraged a land survey team to come and do a GPS survey of our 400 acres of rice property. The land is made up of a series of small plots, like random squares on a checker board. Our largest single area is about 65 acres, and if we can gain access, and properly ditch and dike the land, we can easily raise two crops of high yielding rice per year.

We wanted a topographical survey, so we would know where to set the levies (for maintenance of water levels) . We had one of the most experienced land surveyors in the world, who had some good equipment, and had built dams all over the globe. The problem is that in this particular area of Cambodia there are no GPS satellites close enough to get good readings, and the surveyor did not have his ‘old fashioned equipment.’ “No problem,” claimed our surgeon turned rice farmer, Dr. Chayya, “We’ll just follow the existing dikes because they are built to water level.”

So, we’ve been slinging and pushing dirt for more than a month with our excavator and two dozers.  Hopefully we will have about 150 acres ready for double cropping before the rains start. This will really push the capability of our harvesting capacity, as the second crop needs to go into the ground fast. We really need a new, Thai built, rice combine. There is one sitting on the dealer’s lot about 50 kilometers from our rice farm for the discounted price of $76,000. Hint! Please! Hint!