China Day 1: Agriculture with Intensive Subsistence Farmers (Wet Rice!!)

I met Zongmeng at the airport as I was retrieving my bags.  He was very solemn and I couldn't believe he was the one so interested in having me over to look at his rice farm. I guess my perception of him was a little different then what outwardly showed.

After we drove for about 2 1/2 hours south of Nanchang, we arrived at Zongmeng's family's farm.  He began to explain to me that their family is typical for Chinese subsistence agriculture.  The area he showed me seemed smaller then expected again ( I had a lot of expectations).  Zongmeng told me all about how his ancestors lived on this same plot of land and that his great great grandparents were in these same fields harvesting rice.  He was a very proud man.

As I gazed over the field, there was no land wasted.  If there wasn't rice planted, they put small walkways.  I about any livestock or animals and he answered they could not be put here.  This was their livelihood.

I wanted to get a rundown on what it took to prepare this land and so I asked him the preparation, the ongoing treatment, and any problems he runs into while his family tends to their farm.

1)  His Ox,You, ( which translates to friend) plows the fields and then irrigated.  Zongmeng's father makes sure of how much water is let in because too much can cause serious problems of the plants drowning and too little can cause plants to dry up.

2) The next step is to take the seedlings which were basically being incubated for about a month and place them in the field: transplanting.  Then when harvesting time comes, they separate the chaffs (husks) from the seeds.  The rice are put on trays and carried to their house.

3) The biggest issue Zongmeng has is when his family double crops, they are always afraid of colder winters which could create a smaller yield of rice crops.

We then walked through the field, Zongmeng making me take off my shoes because he said that it is extremely wet and dirty and I may not be accustomed to it.

After that we walked back to his house and I met the family.

It was super awesome that Zongmeng and his family allowed me to see their way of life. Thank you so much Zongmeng!

In a couple of days, I will be visiting an entirely different way of producing agriculture in China with my friend Fen.

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