Currently, rice fields in Thuong Phuoc 1 border commune, Hong Ngu district, Dong Thap province are harvesting the winter-spring crop. This time is also the time when the profession of pulling rice by buffalo cart is in the busy season, helping this profession earn tens of millions of dong per rice crop.
Mr. Nguyen Van Be Sau in Thuong Phuoc 1 commune, Hong Ngu district controls a 4-year-old buffalo named Chim Uc to pull the cart to the field to carry rented rice. Along with Mr. Be Sau’s buffalo cart, there are more than 10 other buffalo carts of the people who are also busy collecting, putting rice bags on the truck and transporting it to the gathering point, about 1km from the field.
Mr. Nguyen Van Be Sau has more than 15 years of experience pulling rice by buffalo cart and currently, he raises 5 buffaloes. In order for the buffalo to have time to rest and recover, he rotates one animal every day to pull rice. Although he works seasonally, pulling rice by buffalo cart also brings him a good income.
“In the rice harvest season, I bring a buffalo cart to pull rice for hire, the average income is 400,000 – 500,000 VND per day. The profession of pulling rice by buffalo cart is mainly for profit, it doesn’t cost much. I have been doing this job for a long time, so I have many acquaintances, in the harvest season, I come to pull rice again,” Mr. Be Sau shared.
Each buffalo cart can carry an average of 15-18 bags of rice/trip (equivalent to about 1 ton) and carry many trips a day. Depending on the length of the distance, the fee for transporting each bag of rice from the field to the gathering point is from 6,000 to 10,000 VND.
Mr. Le Van Giang in Thuong Phuoc 1 commune, Hong Ngu district is raising 2 buffaloes to pull 2 carriages. Mr. Giang said that he has a 10-year-old buffalo that has been pulling carts for many years and the other is 3 years old, just learning to pull a rice cart in this crop. If there is a lot of rice, each buffalo cart can carry 7-10 trips/day, earning more than 1 million VND. After each rice pulling trip, the buffalo will lie in water, rest for about 20 minutes and then continue to pull the next trip.
In recent years, Dong Thap province has promoted mechanization in agriculture, from sowing to harvesting using machines to improve working productivity and free up labor. Crawler-powered rice carts are also gradually replacing buffalo carts. However, many farmers in Hong Ngu district still keep the habit of using the service of pulling rice by buffalo cart as in the past decades. In addition, many farmers think that an advantage of buffalo carts is that it has less impact on the field surface during movement because it usually only goes on a common path.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dat in Thuong Phuoc 1 commune, Hong Ngu district cultivates nearly 1 hectare of rice. Since buying land and producing rice for more than 20 years, Mr. Dat’s family has rented buffalo carts to transport rice every time it is harvested.
“The cost of pulling rice by buffalo cart and by machine has the same cost. But when pulling by machine, sometimes the machine is damaged, waiting for repair, takes time, and pulling by buffalo cart can avoid this situation. Buffalo moves slowly but has endurance, even though the field is soft or muddy, buffalo can still pull rice,” said Mr. Dat.
Currently pulling rice by buffalo cart is a seasonal occupation that usually lasts about 20 days/rice crop. Each year, this practitioner only works from 2 to 3 cases. On average, 1 buffalo cart pulls rice at least 7 times a day, earning about 1 million VND, at the end of the crop, with 1 buffalo cart helping people have more than 12 million VND in income.