Lao Voices

I’ve been thinking about the rise in gas price lately and thought about farmers that have to rely on steel buffaloes to plow the rice paddy, I’m wondering if it’s cost effective this way.  This might be time to bring back our trusted friend, the water buffalo.

Laos Buffalo Photo by Natmanda, text by WVIZ

When we first moved to Thailand, our family became farmers and it was so obvious that we didn’t know anything about farming, we looked more Chinese with our light complexion in comparison to the Thai farmers, they called us ‘Jek’ which is very much like Chink, but a Thai/Lao slang for Chinese people.  This was not the end of the story, but just the beginning because even when we bought the water buffaloes, we had to prove them right by buying the buffaloes that didn’t know how to plow the rice paddy, it took us awhile to train them, well more like learning it together.

Laos working buffalo photo by a of doom

So not all water buffaloes know how to plow the rice paddy, and with the high price in gas, many farmers in Thailand and Laos might decide to go back to using water buffaloes.  I’ve been getting a lot of hits on my Laos Water Buffalo post lately, and it’s coming from WVIZ/PBS idea stream, Thailand: Water Buffalo Tractor, that farmers in Thailand have come up with a solution to the high price of oil by using what they consider to be the best alternative – water buffaloes. In Thailand, rural farmers are going back to basics, and that means using buffaloes to plow their fields. Over the past few decades Thai farmers gradually moved away from using animals choosing to use tractors instead. Tractors provided a faster, more efficient means of farming, but the high price of oil has led many farmers to take a deliberate step backwards. Machines are much more expensive to run meaning that buffalo are back in demand.

Past Thailand: “Transport old and new, Chiang Mai - 3-14-1959″ photo by Wally Higgins

Going backward seems like a bad thing, but there are many positive incentives of going back to using water buffaloes.  Unlike steel buffaloes that are fueled by gas, water buffaloes are low maintenance, they can eat grass, rice straws, and most things that are green, and this seems like a perfect solution for the rise in gas price. They can also be used for cart haulage, carrying heavy loads, and a great transportation for farmers as well.  With so many benefits, I’m willing to overlook that cow farts can contribute to global warming.  What is really great is that water buffaloes can help improve the soil.  Did you know that each year, an adult buffalo produces 4 to 6 tons of wet manure plus additional urine as bio-fertilizer to the land.  This reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers as well as provides essential soil humus which chemicals can’t provide. This is a tremendous cash saving for farmers, I’m sold, I love this idea.

Another interesting read: Thai farmers going back to the buffalo for farming, according to the news article, water buffaloes are making a comeback in Thailand as farmers abandon their machinery due to high fuel prices. Farmers are harnessing their reluctant water buffaloes back onto ploughs and going back to the traditional way of farming.

The put-put sound of diesel-driven ploughs were a common sound throughout rural Thailand. But now, with soaring fuel prices, more and more Thai farmers are putting their modern machinery aside to go back to the traditional way of farming–using water buffaloes.

At 12,000-17,000 Baht ($350-$500) for one animal, water buffaloes are a cheap alternative to diesel ploughs. But both the farmers and water buffaloes are out of practice. Young farmers have little experience using farm animals in the fields and that‘s because water buffaloes are more difficult to control than tractors.  Read the rest of the article here.