Paddy farmers for generations, practised traditional methods of sowing, ploughing, harvesting and preserving indigenous paddy seeds and cultivated on fields free from chemical fertiliser and harmful pesticides. But with the demand for mechanised methods to boost food production for increasing population, the aged-old traditions of paddy farming are fast disappearing.
Agriculture is the main livelihood of around 1.8 million people in Sri Lanka. Rice is the staple food of Sri Lankans, and around 2.8 million tonnes of rice are produced annually in the country. Sri Lanka’s legendary harvests once brought fame for the country which earned the name, the ‘Granary of the East’.
However, recently, the rice production of the country has diminished making the daily life of the people in the country difficult. This has been caused by multiple factors mainly attributed to climate change with resultant flooding in the country destroying paddy crops. Some say unscrupulous traders have created a rice shortage in the market by resorting to nefarious activities such as hoarding.
The threshed paddy is taken out from a machine and laid
to dry in the paddy field.
Anyway, people faced a shortage of rice in the market and the Government was finally forced to import rice from India to solve the problem.
Transition
A couple of weeks ago, after visiting the Alikota Ara reservoir near Wellawaya, we were heading back to Wellawaya town, which is a flourishing agriculture region in the country, when I caught a glimpse of paddy farmers harvesting paddy in the scorching sun. What caught my attention was them using machinery for the harvest instead of the aged-old method of water-buffaloes and manual labour.
For generations, paddy farmers had employed traditional methods to preserve indigenous paddy seeds. These include, Kaluheenati, Batapolavel, Kuruluthuda, Pachchaperumal, Kuruwee and Suwandel. To the farmers, every stage of paddy cultivation is a divine activity and a ritual. Wellawaya near Buttala, is a treasure-house of indigenous paddy seeds and the farmers have preserved a rare collection of a few varieties.
Reaping paddy using sickles
Ukkubanda, 78, a traditional paddy farmer owning 2.5 hectares of land in a village close to Alikota Ara, said, “A few generations ago, our ancestors had cultivated over 150 varieties of paddy seeds, but most of them have been lost over time.”
“I fear that the traditional practice may vanish soon as the number of experts in traditional paddy farming is very few now,” he said.
“All the work, from sowing to harvesting, is done by my family, and we do not purchase rice from shops,” said Gunawardena, another farmer. “Now, many farmers in the area are interested in traditional paddy cultivation, due to various afflictions suffered by the hybrid varieties recently,” he said.
The rhythm of the island’s paddy cultivation cycles harmonises with the monsoon rains: the Northeast monsoon waters the Maha season and the Southwest monsoon waters the Yala season. Farmers sitting in a watch hut or ‘Pela’ for months on end, stay awake to keep destructive animals at bay. By the end of February, the green fields would gradually turn golden brown and the machines would appear, crawling amid the paddy clumps like huge beetles, reaping and threshing simultaneously.
The traditional method of winnowing
However, in the bygone days, the harvest time was a time of rejoicing when they used age-old methods to harvest the fields. And what merry days they were, full of joyous fulfilment. The happiest sounds of the rural scenes are the songs sung by the reapers (goyamkavi) as they rhythmically cut the grain, relating tales of their trails and rewards. Reaping in some regions of the country is still done with the aged-old sickle, although it is increasingly taken over by modern machines.
Nostalgic memories
I have nostalgic memories of the paddy harvesting period in my village, four decades ago, when I was a teenager. Each year, my three brothers and I would join my father to harvest our paddy field. The harvested grain is then bundled in large rush mats and hauled on the threshing floor. The mats are then expertly stacked in tight beehive mounds.
When all the paddy has been reaped, a pair of water buffaloes is driven round the threshing floor, separating the grain from the chaff. We had wonderful experience in the paddy fields as village lads.
Despite the invisible boundaries, paddy cultivation was a team effort. My father owned his plot and during ploughing, sowing and harvesting, everyone would get together to help my father. It is the same for the neighbouring farmers.
Perhaps, the most rigorous observance of custom in the cultivation of paddy is on the ‘kamatha’ – the threshing floor. The important activities of ploughing, seeding, harvesting and threshing are initiated at auspicious times. No chances are taken here, as any mistake would be a harbinger of a poor return. No horseplay or loose talk is tolerated. A special language is used to drive away evil spirits who might eavesdrop, and to preclude the casting of wicked spells on the grain harvest.
Fulfilling the pledge
A farmer transports a bundle of reaped paddy to the threshing floor
Winnowing is also done in the old-fashioned way, i.e. the threshed grain is winnowed with a ‘kulla’ or winnowing basket. The grain then falls down while the chaff ‘bol wee’ blows away in the wind. When it is completed, the grain is measured and stored in wooden containers.
The fresh grain is hulled and a portion of the new rice cooked with coconut milk and jaggery and together with some uncooked grain, offered to temples, thus fulfilling the pledge made at the sowing. Delicious rice-meal and sweetmeats also form part of the offering.
What I have described above is the traditional method of paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka, followed from generation to generation. However, today, traditional farming is under threat. The lack of labour has forced farmers to use machinery for the whole process of paddy farming and processing. In the past, water buffaloes were widely used not only for ploughing the fields but also for threshing paddy, whereas today, machinery has put many of these water buffaloes out to pasture.
A few weeks prior to the beginning of the harvesting season, a large number of paddy harvesting machines known as ‘boothaya’ and ‘sunami’ have been brought to Wellawaya, and stationed at strategic places to cash in on demand. Since most farmers find the harvesting machines easier, less time consuming and less labour intensive, there is a great demand for them. The operators have increased the rent to Rs. 15,000 an hour for harvesting paddy on dry and wet fields this year.
