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| By
: H.P. Rajana, Picture by : Nathan Dexter. |
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All over
Cambodia, people's lives are ruled by rain.
They wait and endure the long dry season, from late
November through to scorching April, willing those
first drops of water to fall from the sky.
Too late, and the fragile rice seedlings will dry
out and die before they can be transplanted into
the larger paddies to grow and provide vital food
and seeds for next season. Then farmers and their
families must prepare for famine.
Too little, and there is no water to transplant
the seedlings into after they have sprouted and
grown strong enough to survive alone. Seedlings
must be transplanted between six weeks to two months
from sprouting or their final rice yield will drop
- if yield will drop _ if they live.
Cambodia is a nation of farmers. Well over three
quarters of the population name farming as their
livelihood.
So in the countryside, despite the damage heavy
rains and storms can often wreak,destroying roads
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Children playing in the water.
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which link the
communities to local markets and washing away early crops,
farmers rejoice when wet season arrives, usually in May,
because whatever the problems it causes, they cannot live
without it.
They watch and wait, studying the clouds.
"Farmers have their own methods. They can tell that
when it is hot and there is no breeze at all, there might
be a downfall," said Mr. Pronh, of Prasat commune,
Kampong Trabek district, Prey Veng Province, about 100
kilometers east of Phnom Penh.
A former farmer himself, he has escaped the vagaries of
rain and is now self-employed as a mini-truck driver.
Like other farmers across the country, farmers in Prey
Veng province, which suffered badly during last year's
floods, waited a long time for the rain this year. The
wait was nearly too long for their spindly and delicate
rice seedlings as the earth dried around them. |
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An elephant ride on the island
of Koh Bach
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Then, at
last, more than two months of dreams and hopes came
true in early August when the wind shifted and clouds
stacked up on the horizon.
The cracked surface of fields that were turned in
readiness for rain last April were submerged under
abundant rain, which fell not only in Prasat but
also other more than a dozen communes in Kampong
Trabek. At Tkov village in Chrey commune, about
15 km further southeast, Mr. Kan rested his plough
on his shoulder and grinned with delight - and relief.
"By July last year the villagers had already
completed rice transplanting. We did not sit still
but manage to pump water from water sources nearby,
including dikes and ponds in our village,"
he said. "But this year, many of our rice-seed
beds had already dried up and our rice seedlings
started die around mid-July. Existing ponds and
ditches were evaporating fast, too, and in desperation
we fought to keep our seedlings alive by hauling
buckets of water to throw into the rice-seed beds.
Luckily we have rain now." |
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Unlike more developed
countries, Cambodia cannot afford to take widespread measures
to make it less dependent on the whims of nature.
"Cambodia is a rainfall-dependent agricultural country
and about 85 per cent of its population living on farming,"
Mr. Ngor Pin, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Water
Resources and Meteorology, explained.
"However, Cambodia can currently artificially irrigate
only 16 per cent of its total 2.25 million hectares of
land under rice cultivation. The rest still relies totally
on rainfall. "Each year, the Mekong River credits
about 385 billion cubic meters to the upper part of the
country, bordering Laos, and debits some 500 billion cubic
meters in the country's lower reaches, bordering Vietnam.
Then there is the volume of rainfall each year that penetrates
the ground. There is water, but only where it runs in
rivers or falls as rain.
"In order to help our farmers smile we need to enhance
water management using irrigation projects, but we lack
funds. At the moment, by 2003 we will still only be able
to ensure irrigation of just 20 per cent of Cambodia's
rice fields," he said.
"The climate of Cambodia is governed by two monsoons,
which set the rhythm of rural life. The cool and dry northeastern
monsoon, which carries little rain, blows from the north.
But everything has its exceptions, for example in April
this year the country had received a lot of rains that
prompted our farmers to prepare their rice-seedling bed
but then followed a long spell of drought within the rainy
season. But real rains come only in August. |
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The pattern
is one Cambodians have relied on for centuries.
"From mid-May to mid-November is the rainy
season, when the south-western monsoon brings strong
rains," Mr. Ngor said.
"Even during wet season it rarely rains in
the morning. Most precipitation comes in the afternoons,
and even then only sporadically.
"Annual rainfall varies considerably from area
to area. Whereas the seaward slopes of the southwest
highlands receive more than 5000 millimeters of
rain per annum, the central lowlands average only
about 1400 millimeters.
"Based on the first half-year report on nationwide
rain conditions in 2001, most provinces had so fair
received less rain than the previous year."
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Khmers believe that when
there is water, there will be fish and often
many other things follow.
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He said the wettest
area was Preah Sihanoukville municipality with 1,710 mm
(49 mm less than the previous year) while Kandal province
had only received 359.2 mm (274.3 mm less than the corresponding
period last year).
Even if the rain comes, it is not enough for some farmers.
Those who have held off sprouting rice seeds for this
year's crop until the rains came and showed they would
stay for certain must now prepare for a short season because
the monsoon is so late.
"Even if it rains until September, and even if we
are able to nurse our rice seedling until then, it is
still too late for us to farm," lamented Mrs. Lang
of Beng village, Prey Paun commune, Prey Veng.
"Firstly, we need the water level in the fields to
be higher than the highest level of the soil we have ploughed,
and secondly, our rice seedlings must not be more than
two and a half months sprouted if we are to harvest even
a moderate yield."
Farmers have a saying. Mean teuk, mean srov, mean trei,
heuy neung mean a'vey pseng pseng tiet chroeurn; when
there is water (rain), there will be rice, fish and many
other things will follow.
At Psar Kor Andeuk, or Turtle Neck Market, by the side
of National Road 1, Mr. Ma Huot and his telephone box
constitute the heart of the district. He hears the happiness
rise in his customer's voices as the clouds build, and
he understands why.
"Perhaps I do not need to rely on rain like a farmer
does, but we still need it," he said.
He needs rain as much as any farmer to be able to eat,
he says. "In same night the rain falls, kids can
catch the frogs and crabs that help feed our families
and help us survive," he said. |
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Mr. Kan, a farmer from Prey
Veng province, goes about his work. It is amazing
how he is able to balance such a load on his shoulder.
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Without
rain, the fish die, and supplies of crabs and frogs
dwindle. These are staples of the Khmer diet, especially
in the provinces.
There is not only no rice, but nothing to eat at
all without rain.
And rain-induced joy is certainly not confined to
farmers, for when so many people are joyous, they
spread that joy and every provincial business reaps
the rewards.
Mrs. Phanny works as an administrative clerk at
Kampong Trabek High School in the mornings, but
turns into a market hawker each afternoon when she
brings her spices and seasonings to Psar Kor Andeuk
to sell.
She looks forward to the rain, not just for the
sake of her friends and countrymen, but for her
business, too. When the rain comes, my business
grows as farmers who put hope in their future rice
dare to buy many things they went without before
_ everything from foods to clothes," she said.
Rain is never far from any Cambodian's thoughts.
A popular song all over the country, for instance,
is a ballad entitled The Pitiful Life of The Farmer
(Anicha Chivit Neak Srer).
In the song, a young farming couple suffer floods
for two seasons running, then drought in the rainy
season. They cry and then console each other, telling
each other not to lose hope. In the end, their |
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hope is rewarded
with rain and they are saved. The moral of the story is
never to give up.
"It reflects so clearly the life of farmers here
in Prey Veng," Mrs. Phanny said. "It is a song
I like very much."
If rain is prayed for in the countryside, however, it
is dreaded by most in the city as a necessary but unwelcome
evil. Bike and car owners complain bitterly about the
flooded roads and mud of the capital during the wet season.
But for some, this is a bonus.
"I come to help my uncle every weekend and I am happy
to see rain," laughed Miss Tan Somala. Her uncle
owns Bear Car Wash, just to the northeast of the National
Railway Station.
"The day after rains, there are a lot more customers.
More than 100 cars a day on average!"
But city dwellers have still stranger uses for rainy days.
For some, lottery draws or international football matches
provide entertainment and a gambling opportunity.
But or a group of people high on a rooftop in Phnom Penh,
television isn't necessary. They are watching the skies,
and watching them with as intense an interest as any farmer.
These people are rain bettors. They bet on when rain will
fall, and how much. After each rainstorm, some of them
count their winnings and others look again to the clouds
and await the chance to recoup their loses.
Rain bettors in Phnom Penh are not meteorologists but
to its proponents, rain betting is a skilled craft that
requires an intimate knowledge of weather patterns. The
rain bettors have practiced this game for a long time.
Police are aware of their gambling, but choose to let
them be.
"Perhaps because the game is never been a problem
among the bettors, no crackdown measures have ever been
taken. We all are waiting for the rain to be lucky,"
said a rain bettor living west of Psar Thom Thmei (Central
Market).
Rainy season is not traditionally a time for foreigners
to visit the region, but Apsara Tours guide Mr. Khim Rithy
also believes it is one of the most joyous times of year.
"Tourists, with umbrellas in hand, often request
that we stop the bus during the rain so they can get out
and take pictures of things they never see in other countries,"
Mr. Khim said.
"Things like a child supervising dozens of ducks
as they wander about in dikes along the road, or a boy
hunting frogs along the edges of a field, or groups women
smiling a welcome to their unexpected guests as they transplant
rice in the middle of a downpour. These things are new
to them and make them appreciate how rain can change the
scenery in a country like ours."
He said the rain also made the countryside green and cool,
making the climate more suitable for tourists.
So rain means many things to many people in Cambodia _
to farmers, hawkers, tourists and even gamblers.
In Cambodia, rain represents health, hope and happiness.
It guarantees food for the next season and greens the
landscape. Nothing brings so much joy to the kingdom as
plain, simple rain. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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