Farmers gathering ripe sheaves of rice, Ta Van valley, Sa Pa, north Vietnam
Autumn is rice harvest time in Asia and the rice terraces and paddies are turning a golden yellow. The Ta Van valley is a lovely place to observe the rice harvest still being done by manual labor using implements and techniques that have could have been seen centuries ago. In an ancient routine, the farmers first grab a handful of individual rice stalks, cut them with a crescent knife and twist them into bundles and line them up side by side in the paddy. The bundles are then threshed by banging them into a wooden box to loosen the rice grains. Subsequently the grains are spread on cloths on the ground to dry. After the field is harvested, the water buffalos and ducks are let loose into the field to clean up the stalks and left over seeds. It is somehow very satisfying to see that some types of work have survived mostly unchanged for hundreds of years since they are so perfectly adapted to the environment.
Size: 5000px × 3333px
Location: Ta Van valley, Sa Pa, North Vietnam
Photo credit: © Terry Allen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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