Implementation procedures Upland rice farming

The first implementation procedure in upland rice cultivation is slashing the upland area before burning it. Fifty-six-point-seven per cent of the farmers said that this labour procedure involves “mostly communal labour”. Exactly 30% said that is “little more communal labour”

than labour of each household. Therefore slashing an upland rice field can be described as a duty that involves mostly communal labour outside of the certain household.

Completely different is the involvement of other labour in the village community concerning burning the upland area. Fifty-six-point-seven per cent said that this step involves “entirely household labour forces” and still 16.7% describe it as a “mostly household labour” activity.

And 13.3% of the farmers said burning the upland field involves “a little more household labour” than labour outside the household or family.

Sixty per cent of the farmers answered that clearing the upland field after burning involves

“mostly and a little more communal labour” than only labour within a household. Still 23.3% related this implementation procedure to household labour, while 10% of the farmers said that clearing the upland field involves household and communal labour equally.

Planting the upland rice is basically a communal activity. Eighty-six-point-six per cent of the farmers said that planting the rice involves “mostly (73.3%) and a little more (13.3%) communal labour” force.

As well as planting being a more or less communal activity, weeding involves also more labour from village community. Forty-three-point-three per cent answered that weeding requires “a little more communal labour” force and 30% said that it involves a “mostly communal labour” force to weed the upland field during the year. Around 16.7% said that weeding involves a “little more household labour” than communal labour force.

Harvesting the upland rice in the Khamu culture also involves more labour from the village community and is not only done by household and family members. Fifty per cent said that harvesting involves “a little more communal labour” and 26.7% said that “mostly communal labour” is applied for this implementation step.

The last implementation step on upland rice farming is also an activity that mostly involves labour from the village community. Forty-three-point-three per cent of farmers said that carrying involves “mostly communal labour” force, and 33.3% said it requires “a little more communal labour” force than the household labour force. Only 6.7% said that carrying the rice to the rice storages or village involves household and communal labours equally.

With the exception of burning down the upland area, all the other labour procedures on upland rice cultivation is more a communal activity and is not done by only household and family members. The whole village community participates in upland rice cultivation for each plot of a family and household.

Paddy rice farming

The different implementation procedures of paddy rice farming are basically labour procedures which also involve labour from the village community, as the following results will show.

The first step is to dig an irrigation system for the paddy rice field in the lowland area of a rural village. Seven farmers of the 15 who cultivate paddy rice said that digging the irrigation system is “mostly a communal activity”, which is a percentage of 46.7.

Twenty-six-point-seven per cent describe this duty, which involves a “little more communal labour” force than only household members.

Three out of 15 farmers (20%) said that digging an irrigation system was a duty that involves

“entirely household labour” force. These farmers built the irrigation system without the support or help of other farmers of the village community.

The second implementation procedure, digging the boundaries of the paddy rice field, is in most instances a duty that involves labour from the village community. Eleven out of 16 farmers described it as being “a little more communal labour” and “mostly communal labour”. Two farmers said that digging boundaries was done only by members of their own households.

Most of the farmers (35.3%) said that digging soil is “mostly communal labour”. Twenty-three-point-three per cent said that digging soil on the paddy field is shared equally by household members and others from village community. Seventeen-point-six per cent of the farmers answered that it involves a “little more communal labour” force to dig the soil. Two out of 17 farmers (11.8%) said that it requires “entirely household labour” and no labour support from outside the household

The next implementation procedure is watering the paddy rice field. This particular step differs from the others concerning the relation of household and community labour. Ten out of 17 farmers, which is about 59%, said that they water the field using “entirely household labour”. Eleven-point-eight per cent said that watering is “mostly household labour” and 17.6% said that it is a “little more household labour” than communal labour. Only one out of 17 paddy rice farmers said that they share watering the field equally with household

and communal labours, which means that the labour force is quite balanced between a farmer’s household and other labours of the village. And one farmer said that watering his paddy field involves “a little more communal labour” force.

After watering the paddy field the soil has to be re-broken before sowing and planting. This duty is also described as “entirely household labour” by 29.4% of the paddy rice farmers.

Eleven-point-eight per cent said that it is “mostly household labour” and only one out of 17 (5.9%) said that it is a “little more household labour” than communal. Seventeen-point-six per cent of the farmers said that re-breaking the soil is shared by household and community members equally and still six out of 17 farmers described it as being “a little more comm-unal labour” (three farmers) and “mostly commcomm-unal labour” (also three farmers).

Sowing the paddy rice is another exception to watering the field. The largest amount of farmers, 47.1%, said that sowing is “entirely household labour” and does not require support from other villagers. Twenty-three-point-five per cent described it as “little more communal labour”, while 17.6% think that it is balanced equally between household and village community members.

The next implementation step “planting” the paddy rice is remarkable because, compared to sowing, it is mostly a communal activity. Forty-one-point-two per cent said it was a “little more communal labour”, and 35.3% said it involves a “mostly communal labour” force.

Two out of 17 farmers, 11.8%, said that they shared the duty of planting equally amongst the village community and household members. Only one paddy rice farmer described planting the paddy rice as an “entirely household labour”.

The reason that planting paddy rice is mostly a communal activity compared to sowing may lie in the fact that planting rice on an upland field is mostly a communal activity as well. This means that within the village community there are labour exchange groups which do a lot of planting together. This is maybe a reason why planting paddy rice main-tains communal activity because planting is a proven and traditional communal activity.

Harvesting paddy rice is mostly defined as “a little more communal labour”, which 52.9%

of the farmers said. And 17.6% said that harvesting paddy rice is “mostly communal labour”, in which most village members are involved. The same percentage said that harvesting is done entirely by household members. And two out of 17 farmers said that it is a “little more household labour” than communal.

The last implementation labour procedure in paddy cultivation is carrying the paddy rice to the storage or village. Eight out of 17 paddy farmers said that this duty involves “a little more communal labour” than household members (47.1%). Seventeen-point-six per cent of farmers said that it is “mostly communal labour”. Two out of 17 farmers said that carrying the harvested paddy rice is only done by the household members without the support of other villagers. Also, two out of 17 described it as “mostly household labour”, while two farmers said carrying the paddy rice is shared equally by household and village community members.

6.4.3 Livelihood transitions and the impact on inter-household institutions