Even though it is already the rainy season, there has been almost no rain this year. In Battambang, August is the wettest month with rainfall like a waterfall, but we are suffering from a serious drought, and the soil in the fields is still as crumbly as in the dry season everywhere.
Concerned, I took a day from Battambang city to visit Mr. Kruta in the district of Sampaulong. About half of the cotton seeds he had sown had not germinated due to lack of water. There is no irrigation system (water is drawn from rivers and lakes to moisten farmland) in this district. All water used for agriculture is dependent on rainwater.
If you cross the mountains in the distance, you are in Thailand. Many people told us that they had given up farming for the season and went to Thailand to work for cash income.
The seeds entrusted to Mr. Kruta are native Thai seeds (seeds of crops that are traditionally grown in a certain region and have not been subjected to modern breeding). These are short-fiber seeds that have been continuously cultivated at high altitudes, where the temperature reaches zero degrees Celsius during the coldest season, which is rare in tropical Thailand.
As I looked out over the desolate fields, I thought that if Thai seeds spoke the language, they would grumble, "I never heard of being thrown out in such an extremely hot and dry field.
To my surprise, even in such an environment, about half of the seeds germinated and spread their young leaves vigorously. Native species adapt themselves to the local climate. Unlike F1, they are not clones, so they have a strong vitality. I don't know how severe the drought will be this year, but I couldn't help but hope that they will somehow survive and produce pure white cotton seeds.
Mr. Kurta's small fields, about half a hectare in size, are scattered around the back of his house. The surrounding area has been marked with mine warning signs for quite some time, but since there is no other land to cultivate, Mr. Kurta has continued to farm here.
In Battambang, another accident occurred on the 10th of this month, when a 65-year-old man riding a cultivator stepped on an anti-tank mine and was killed instantly. Mr. Kurta promised us not to be overconfident in the familiarity of the area and to always be aware of the dangers, and we left the Sampaulon district.
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