Farmers in Nghe An province are going online to find people to hire for rice planting.
Huy Thu•June 2, 2024 11:52
As the summer-autumn rice planting season approaches, the demand for hired rice planters is high, making them quite in demand. In Thanh Chuong district (Nghe An province), despite many groups of hired planters actively working, many households are still scrambling to find people to help with their planting.
These days, many localities in the province are entering the rice planting season. In the fields, farmers are busy preparing the land, pulling up seedlings, and transplanting rice... Areas with large rice planting areas need more workers. In the photo: The bustling rice planting season in Dong Van commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Huy ThuDuring this time, many women who have finished sowing and transplanting rice seedlings take advantage of the opportunity to work as hired transplanters to earn extra income. To find transplanters, landowners have to go to intersections, crossroads, roads leading to the fields, or market gates... Mr. Nguyen Cong Phuong from Dong Van commune said: "The rice fields in my commune are mainly transplanted, not sown. At the same time, many households in the commune are looking for hired transplanters, so this is quite difficult. I prepared the fields and seedlings thoroughly, and posted an advertisement for transplanters on the entire hometown group on Facebook a day in advance, but I still haven't found any." Photo: Huy ThuAfter picking up the transplanters, everyone goes to the fields to plant rice. Some households don't have anyone to pull up the seedlings or haven't prepared the seedlings yet, so the transplanters have to pull up the seedlings, transport them to the field, and then plant them. Most of the people who work as hired transplanters only want to specialize in planting, and don't want to take on the additional tasks of pulling up seedlings and transporting them... because it's too hard work. Photo: Huy ThuA woman from Thanh Huong commune (Thanh Chuong district), who works as a hired rice planter in Dong Van commune, said: "In my village, there are about 10 people who specialize in hired rice planting. Roughly speaking, the whole commune has around 100 people. They usually go in groups of 3-5 people, planting rice in various locations throughout the district. They get up at 5 am to start planting. The further away the planting location, the earlier they have to leave. Because they work 'professionally' and are exposed to the sun all day, the rice planters from my village are fully equipped with heat-resistant clothing." (Photo: Huy Thu)Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh (63 years old) from Thanh Dong commune (Thanh Chuong district) shared: Her family has 5 sao (approximately 0.5 hectares) of rice fields that have been completely sown this season, so she and some others from the commune went to Dong Van commune to work as hired rice planters to earn extra income. Photo: Huy ThuWhen transplanting rice seedlings in the fields, the transplanters follow the homeowner's instructions, such as planting densely or sparsely, planting freely or in strips... "No matter who we're transplanting for, we're always happy and enthusiastic, ensuring the work is done properly, and we even make plans to meet again next season," said a transplanter from Thanh Ngoc commune (Thanh Chuong district) while transplanting rice in Dong Van commune. Photo: Huy ThuMs. Van Thi Khuong (60 years old) from Thanh Khai commune (Thanh Chuong district) said that in recent years, every planting season, after sowing her own 6 sao (approximately 0.6 hectares) of rice, she goes to plant rice for households in and outside the commune, even as far as Nam Thai and Nam Thanh communes (Nam Dan district). This planting season, she has been working for three days. According to Ms. Khuong, there is usually a shortage of planters during the planting season because most of the young people in the villages have gone to work far away. Photo: Huy ThuAccording to rice planters in Thanh Khai commune, nowadays, those who work as hired rice planters in the area usually finish planting for the day and then go home to eat lunch, instead of eating meals provided by the landowners in the fields as before. Many days, even if it's past noon or late evening, people still try to finish planting the rice seedlings or the entire field. (Photo: Huy Thu)A rice planter in Thanh Huong commune shared: "When working as hired rice planters, we women usually bring our own drinking water in case the landowner doesn't provide it. However, nowadays, hired rice planters are often provided with drinking water, fruit, milk, etc., quite thoughtfully by the landowners." (Photo: Huy Thu)The hardships of rice planters are not only enduring the sun and rain, wading through deep rice paddies, bending over, getting tired knees, and getting covered in mud, but also often stepping on snail shells and broken glass, getting injured... Photo: Huy ThuMany rice transplanters also take on additional tasks such as picking golden apple snails or spraying pesticides to kill them for the landowners. After a hard day of transplanting rice, the transplanters return home hoping for cooler, more favorable weather the next day. Each transplanter earns between 300,000 and 350,000 VND per day. The income of a rice transplanter is not as easy as many other manual labor jobs. Photo: Huy ThuRice planting for hire. Video: Huy Thu
.jpg)
