17th of august 2009. harvesting padi at wasan padi area. by Md Azmey

Yesterday,it was my first trip with BEACA . we are told to come before 6 a.m. I have to woke up early at 4.30 to pack up my stuff and took 30 minutes to reached the assamble area that was at shibie parking area. As the bus arrived, we left ubd around 6.00a.m and it took less than 30minutes to reach kg.wasan.

As we arrived at wasan padi area,we can see almost 2km per square of the area were covered by padi. we entered half kilometere of wasan padi area by bus before reaching the actual place. The padi area were we're visiting was belonged to Haji Mohammad Ali bin Bakar. we're welcome by one of the worker named hadi and he is indonesian. we were given a short brief about the equipment used during cutting the padi. At first, we were asked to used boots and gloves and bring along a penknife.

The experience started when we walk through the slippery narrow pathway that we must walk very carefully or we may get slip off. while walking through the path way i saw long plastic with 1feet in height that covering the padi. As told by hadi, the plastic are used to prevent mouse form entering the padi area. then we enter the padi area and started to experiencing how to cut padi traditionally. Basically,we are told that from sewing the padi until it can be harvested,only took 3 month 10 days. we can see form its colour.when it's yellow that mean it ready to be harvested. but as added by Haji Mohammad Ali,it's better to cut down the padi when it is greenish yellow. because it made the padi taste more sweeter.

Harvesting padi was not really hard than i expected. It only need the patience to do it. this feelings come when i can only get a full small plastic bag (because i dont have basket which also called "takinding")within an hour with sweat all over the face. the small plastic bag that i used is only equal to 5gram of padi. how small the amount is?

There was also equipment used to scared the bird. it was rope with cans and leaves hanging on that tied from the rest house to the pose at every corner of the padi area. The worker just pull the rope from the rest house and make sounds that scare the bird. As mention by Haji Mohammad Ali about the used of fake human figure standing at the padi area was no longer affective since it doesnt move.the birds are not scared away.

After an hour harvesting padi then we back to the rest place and have some breakfast. Then we pack our stuff and ready to go back to ubd.

Padi Area at wasan



the equipment used to scared the bird that disturb the padi

process of drying padi under the sun.