Cassava Production



Cutting Cassava Stalks for Planting

Father's Day was a holiday here in Thailand on 5 December, but for Lao Loum farmers here in Isaan it was a day like any other day - a work day.  I have already written about the sugar cane harvest, the rice harvest, and the Kumphawapi Market so today I will write about the work associated with the cultivation of cassava.

Thailand is the largest exporter of dried cassava in the world.  Most of the exports go to China.  The largest producer of cassava is Nigeria.  I often ate cassava when I lived in Brasil.  You may even have a form or byproduct of cassava in your kitchen cabinet.

What is cassava?  Cassava, Manihot esculenta, which is also known as manioc and mandioca is a woody shrub originally from South America that has a starchy tuberous edible root.  The edible root is very much like a potato.  It is more fibrous and more mushy than a potato prepared the same way.  Cassava.  Unlike the potato, it is important to properly prepare cassava.  There are two varieties of cassava, sweet and bitter.  The bitter variety is typically used for industrial purposes. The sweet variety is the kind most likely to be eaten by people.  Both varieties can expose people to cyanide if not properly prepared.  The bitter kind has 50 times the concentration of cyanide compounds than the sweet.  Proper preparation of the sweet variety involves peeling and boiling the tuber ensuring to throw the water away.  the industrial variety needs to be soaked in water for 18 to 24 hours.

When the root is dried to a powdery or pearl type extract is known as Tapioca. Cassava can be eaten as "french fries", "potato chips", or "boiled potatoes".  In Brasil the tuber is dried, powdered, fried with butter, packaged and sold as "Manioc Flour" or "Farofel"  It is sprinkled on meat or beans for flavor and to thicken the consistency of the dish.

Cassava is a good source of carbohydrates but a poor source of protein for people.  It is grown because it does not require fertile soil or a great deal of water.  The cassava shrub is very drought resistant.  Because it can grow in poor soil and without a great deal of water, cassava is a natural choice for a cash crop here in Isaan.  It is called "mahn falang" by the Lao Loum farmers.  Cassava is used in rotation with sugar cane.

After the sugar cane is harvested, the land is plowed and cassava is planted.  After 6 months, the cassava is harvested and sugar cane planted in its place.  Currently cassava brings 2,700 Baht per metric tonne ($90.00 per 2,200 pounds) to the farmer while sugar cane brings 1,300 Baht per metric tonne.  Rice pays the most at 18,000 Baht per tonne ($600 USD).

Processing Cassava Stalks

For small farmers like Duang's relatives, they manually harvest the cassava tubers by first removing all the stems and leaves from the stalk.  The bare stalk is then pulled straight up to expose the tubers.  The tubers are removed from the stalk and placed in a farm truck or wagon.  Due to the rapid deterioration of the tubers after harvesting, they are taken directly to a local processor.  The bottoms of the stalks are cut off and the remaining 4 to 5 foot long stalk is taken back home to be processed for the next crop.

Cutting Up Cassava Stalks

Back at the farmer's home or at a willing relative's home, the stalks are stacked like cord wood.  The stalks are then cut into 8 to 9 inch long pieces with a heavy cane knife - one stalk at a  time - a job performed by both men and women.  The short pieces of stalk are collected in woven baskets.  The pieces are then brought over to a tub of water where they are washed and wetted down before placing them into recycled fertilizer or rice bags.  The stalk sections remain in the bags for three days, after which they are transported out to a prepared filed and planted by hand.

Wetting Down Cassava Stalk Sections

Packing Cassava Stalks Into Recycled Fertilizer Bags

Tomorrow morning, these sections of cassava will be planted.  We will be traveling out to Tahsang Village to witness and document the process.  Based upon her success in photographing me dancing during the street parade for Bun Kaithin, Duang is planning on photographing me planting "mahn falang"  Hmmm ... I may have to bring out that excuse that foreigners are not allowed to work without a "Work Permit" issued by the Thai Government.  Your wife wanting you to work is not sufficient authorization.

The Battle Has Been Lost, Hopefully The War Will Continue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The battle has been lost but I hope that the war will continue.  What?  Is this another bitter article regarding American elections.  No!  Is this about whatever may or may have happened in Libya? Nope, not that either!  What about something to do with what may happen in Iran?  No, not today.

Today's blog is actually a follow up and update to a blog that I wrote at the end of November 2009,

http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2009/11/big-box-battle-struggle-against.html

"Big Box Battle - The Struggle Against The Multinationals" documented the battle to prevent the British multinational grocer, Tesco-Lotus, from building a big box store in Kumphawapi.  Local people, suspected Chinese merchants, had posted a sign in Kumphawapi stating along the lines that if you helped Tesco-Lotus to locate in Kumphawapi you would die.  Perhaps not necessarily a direct death threat but in a land of many spirits, karma, and things that go bump in the night something to take seriously.

Well now three years later, Lotus-Tesco will shortly be opening their Kumphawapi "Super-Store"  This pains me on a personal level.  Since the exit of the French multinational grocer, Carrefour, I have been doing most of my grocery shopping at Lotus-Tesco in Udonthani.  I have many fond memories of when I first became associated with Kumphawapi of shopping at the local market with Duang. Some of those memories and experiences were written about in August 2009:

http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2009/08/local-shopping-shopping-for-locals.html

Duang and I continue to use the Kumphawapi market as well as the local small shops to purchase food, beverages, and household items for the family out in Tahsang Village.  Every shopping trip to the markets and shops has been a pleasant experience and sometimes even an adventure. My blogs are not so much about my personal experiences but rather the documentation of some unique aspects of a special culture - a special culture like so many other cultures that under attack today by the forces of globalization and one world governance.

Outdoors Portion of Kumphawapi Market

On Father's Day here two days ago, we shopped at the market in Kumphawapi.  It was more than a shopping experience it was also a social experience.  Many of the vendors recognized Duang and had to share some kind words or gossip with her.  I was content to wander around taking photographs in an attempt to capture the atmosphere of a way of life here in Thailand.  Soon I had attracted the attention of some men who good naturedly pointed out things that I should photograph.

Fresh Bananas For Sale - $0.15 USD A Pound

Besides the social and communal aspects that the local markets provide, they also provide a greater variety and higher degree of quality of produce, fish, and meats.  The sellers at the local markets are independent vendors.  They pay rent for the space that they occupy at the market.  The market provides space and electricity.  The individual vendors provide the fixtures and equipment.

If they sell bad product, they will quickly be out of business.  Since most items are not packaged, it is easy to determine if a product is not at its freshest. The vendors are not capitalized so they must ensure that their customers are satisfied and perhaps just as important trust them. The market vendors are also more sensitive and responsive to the needs of their customers.  They have no corporate mangers to please, no corporate policies or procedures to follow or to hide behind.  All profits also remain within the local economy - locals helping locals.  Local solutions for local problems and situations.

Vegetables For Sale At Kumphawapi Market

Vendors often sell products from their local farms or products that they have gathered from local waters or nearby land.  Many local people have started to grow mushrooms as a cottage industry.  The fruits of their labors, both in variety and quantity, was readily apparent at the market.  There were also many tables of fresh vegetables; unpackaged vegetables that you could closely inspect, and smell before making your choice.

Fresh Fish Being Prepared For Sale

You Can't Find Fish Any Fresher Than These

One of the vendors that attracted my attention during our last visit to the market was the pumahlai vendor.  Pumahlai are fresh floral arrangements that are given as offerings to Buddha in the Wats, hung from rear view mirrors inside of motor vehicles, and given to people as gifts as well as demonstrations of respect.  In urban areas you can buy pumahlai at the intersections of major roads and at the markets.  They typically cost from 20 to 80 baht ($0.60 USD to $2.60) depending upon size and type of flowers used.  They are available year long and are one of the affordable luxuries that add to the quality of life here in Thailand.

Mother and Son Making Pumahlai For Sale

Since we visited the market on a holiday, there was no school in session.  The pumahlai vendor had her school aged son helping her to make and sell the floral arrangements.  here in Thailand and in Isaan in particular children help contribute to the family's economic welfare.  In extreme cases, such as was the case with Duang, children have to leave school after four years to work in the fields.  In other cases the children help to sell handicrafts along the highway when school is not in session.  Children are not sheltered for a long time from the responsibilities and accountability of adulthood or at least the awareness of contributing to the family's welfare.

You can buy products other than meat, fish, vegetables, and flowers at the Kumphawapi Market.  There is a section where you can buy fresh baked goods - one of my favorites being fresh waffles with corn and shredded coconut in them - great for breakfast and good for any other time.  In the covered portion of the market, there are stalls that sell dry goods and canned goods.  Other stalls sell the ingredients necessary for betelnut chewing - large sacks of the stuff!  Some stalls sell clothing, while others sell toys.

A Clothing Vendor At The Market

The market also has bathrooms, bathrooms where you need to pay a small fee to use them.  I always want to be honest and truthful in what I write in this blog so I have to  admit that I much much more prefer the bathrooms at the multinational big box stores than at the local markets.  I actually prefer the sugar cane fields to the bathrooms at the local markets.  This just reinforces the adage that no one is perfect no place is perfect either.  The market does provide a janitorial service to keep the area somewhat under control.

Sweeping Up At the Market

Our visit to the market was accented with the sounds of cleavers chopping fish or meat, various radios and CD players blaring ethnic music, the rasping sounds of fish being scaled, the din of good natured banter between vendors and customers, as well as the scratching sound of the market janitor sweeping up with her long stiff broom.  The music was so infectous that the man who was pointing out things for me started to dance.  I joined him in dancing Isaan style much to the amusement of everyone.  The vendors told Duang to bring me back some day - some day soon!

Janitor Wishing Me A Happy Father's Day

Adjacent to the market are several small shops that specialize in selling dry goods.  These are small family run operations typically by ethnic Chinese.  These shops will transport your purchases across the main road to the parking lot - just part of their customer services.

A Small Dry Goods Shop

 

Lotus Tesco has won their battle to built their "super-store" in Kumphawapi but I hope that people of the area continue to support their local solution for shopping.  I hope that they work to preserve their culture and traditions in opposition to the pressures of multinational corporations for mono culturalism.  Perhaps s I write this blog one Thai or hopefully more than one Thai is saying something along the lines uttered by Bluto from the film "Animal House" ... "What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is!"

What A Difference A Week Can Make - Cane Harvest

Sugar Cane Trucks Awaiting Offloading

Last week, activities in the fields in Isaan centered around rice cultivation, more specifically threshing this year's rice harvest.  As you drove along the narrow country back roads you would see clusters of people in the parched paddies collecting the sheaves of rice for threshing.  You would encounter small farm trucks transporting bags of threshed rice back to the farmer's home.  Occasionally you would encounter a small farm trucks transporting sugar cane from the fields to a refinery.  Well one week has changed all of that.  The three month sugar harvest is now well underway.

A Typical Isaan Farm Truck

The back roads of Isaan on now filled with large, very large, and heavily loaded trucks transporting harvested sugar cane from the fields to the sugar refineries. These trucks will run all day and well into the night for the next three months.  The heavy trucks and amount of trucks take a heavy toll on the roads.  It seems that the roads are destroyed after two seasons of the sugar harvest requiring the roads to be replaced every three years.  yes that's right - destroyed every two years and replaced every three.  That is the way it is out in the countryside.  For one year you learn and become adept at avoiding the potholes, lumps, and bumps of the back roads.  I often joke with the local politicians and officials that if they will fix the road that year, I will vote for them.  I suspect that elections are every four years so the roads are fixed every three years as demonstration of the elected officials performance.  Right now the road out to Tahsang Village is great (the elections were in November).

Sugar Cane Laden Trucks At Kumphawapi Sugar Company Refinery

The loaded trucks take the sugar cane to sugar refineries.  On our way to Tahsang Village, just outside of Kumphawapi, Kumphawapi Sugar Company has their refinery.  Between the road and the refinery which is set a ways off from the road, is a large parking area.  The area used to be unpaved and was covered with a thick layer of very red dust.  This year the company greatly improved the parking area, it has been completely paved over with concrete and has a grass covered berm built around it. It is much better now to walk around it taking photographs than when the dust got into everything.  I suspect that the local residents are even more thankful.

The refinery has a limited capacity to offload trucks and to process the sugar cane.  The result of the refinery capacity and uncoordinated delivery of cane to the refinery, is a huge logjam of cane laden trucks at the entrance to the plant.  The parking lot is where the trucks await their turn to enter the refinery and offload their cane. During the height of the harvest, truckers can wait up to three days for their turn to be offloaded.  It reminded me somewhat of the huge line of trucks lined along the highway for about 20Km (roughly 15 miles) during the soy bean harvest waiting to enter the port of Paranagua, Brasil to ship their cargo out.

Trucks In Line to Enter the Refinery

At the Kumphawapi Sugar Company, the trucks arrive and log into the security office.  The truckers are given a number and they park their trucks to await their turn by number to get into the line to enter the refinery.  We spoke to a trucker and found out that he had already been waiting one day.

Passing Time, Waiting For Their Number To Be Called

Hearing that he had been waiting a day and knowing that some truckers end up waiting three days to offload, got me to thinking about how the truckers make money.  Do they own the trucks?  Are they hired to drive someones truck?  Are they paid by the hour?  Are they paid by the day?  Are they paid by the load?  Are they  paid by the weight of cane that is delivered?  Fortunately Duang was with me to ask and get answers for me.

For the most part, the drivers are hired by companies that own the trucks.  The drivers are paid by the amount of sugar cane that they haul.  The driver that we spoke with is paid 6 Baht ($.002 USD) per metric ton of sugar cane hauled.  For a tandem trailer, two 35 ton loads, he makes 420 baht ($14 USD).  General farm labor had been running 150 Baht a day but now it is closer to 300 Baht a day ($10 USD).  So running and offloading in one day is not that bad.  However, taking two or three days to offload is not very good.

The drivers pass away the time by socializing, listening to ethnic music, and sleeping.

Have Hammock, Will Sleep

Many of the drivers will sleep in their trucks overnight.  Food is readily available.  Townspeople have set up little stalls outside of the parking area where food and drink are available.  Some of the drivers, like the driver that we spoke to, drive their trucks back home for the night and return to wait once again early the next morning.  They keep the same number in the line until they are off loaded - whenever that may be.

Although it was a public holiday, The King's Birthday/Father's day here in Isaan, some people had to work.  Their work schedule is dictated by the ancient cycles of farming - times for sowing and times for harvesting.  There is also the need to take advantage of any opportunity to make a living.  Where opportunities are great, any opportunity, no matter when, can not be ignored.

Sugar Cane Trucks In Kumphawapi On Father's Day

Happy Father's Day - In Thailand

A Father Accepts Offerings From His Children and Nieces

 Today, 5 December, is a holiday in Thailand.  Today is King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 85th birthday.  As King he is considered to be and revered as father to the Thai people. As such, his birthday is also celebrated as "Father's Day" just as Queen's birthday is also considered to be "Mother's Day"

Today throughout Thailand, children paid respect to their father and made offerings to him in small private rituals.  In Bangkok there were tens of thousands of people witnessing the "Trooping of the Colours" where the military pledged their allegiance to the King and wish him a Happy Birthday.

We drove out to Tahsang Village in the late morning for Duang to pay respects to her father.  Duang is a very loving and forgiving daughter.  We stopped at the market in Kumphawapi to buy some things to give Duang's father and two uncles.  After buying some boxes of milk, bananas ($0.15 a pound), and special floral arrangements called "pumahlai"

Pumahlai - Fresh Floral Arrangements

Duang and her sister knelt before their father who was seated above them, bowed their heads almost to the ground once and offered him a pumahlai and some cash on a plate.  As they made the offering to their father they said something along the lines of "Father, you have taken care of us and you have taken care of Momma for a long time, we wish that you live for a long time.  We wish that Buddha take care of you"  As he accepted the offerings, he said something along the lines of "You are good daughter.  The money that you gave me will come back and more to you. You have good husband.  He loves you very much.  Good luck to you.  Buddha take care of you long time." After the ritual, he was given some boxed milk and a bag of bananas.

Duang and Her Sister Make Offering to Their Father



Duang, her sister, and I then made a short walk through Tahsang Village to pay respects to one of their uncles.  Once again they offered cash, a pumahlai, and boxed milk to him in a ritual similar to the one for their father.





Offerings to An Uncle On Father's Day

After a short visit, we walked across the village to another uncle's home.  Apparently, at least for Duang and her sister, Father's Day is not just limited to your biological father but to all senior males of the family.  I know that Duang has many more than two uncles so I asked her about the others.  She replied that they lived too far away (i.e. too far to walk) and it would cost too much money.  OK - good enough reasons for me.

This uncle had his daughter and son visiting along with his young grandson.  The ritual was repeated once again.

A Father Accepts Offerings

Son, Daughters and Niece Make An Offering

After finishing paying our respects to the elderly men, we headed back to our home but not before taking some more photos but that will be another blog entry.

Today I read on the Internet that Thailand was selected as one of the best places for Americans to retire. Besides the low cost of living here, respect for the elderly was listed as an advantage. Both are real advantages here.

I hope that not too many people decide to act upon the Internet poll.  I enjoy and I am happy staying here. The last thing that I would wish to see would be for Thailand to be over run by people trying to make Thailand like the country they just left.  When people point out in negative intonations how Thailand is not like the USA, I point out that if I wanted to live in a country like the USA, I would return to America.  In my opinion, different isn't necessarily bad.  I support multiculturalism in the world.  I would not want to live in a world where culture or even governments are homogenized - one world culture, one worl government.  I support choices where I am free to be me and, perhaps more importantly, others are free to be them.

Today, I was pleased to witness Father's day in December, Father's Day in Thailand.

Bangkok Gems

Rough Sapphires Awaiting Processing

 Visitors to Bangkok are most likely very familiar with the plethora of locations and "opportunities" to purchase jewelry.  Just about every guide book that I have read on Thailand also cautions tourists regarding touts for gems and jewelry scams in Bangkok.

The raw stones for the jewelry sold in Bangkok come mainly from Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia.  Raw stones are not suitable directly from the mines to be used in jewelry.  The raw stones which are irregular shaped and opaque need to be processed somewhere and by someone before they can be used in jewelry.  On our last trip to Bangkok last month, I visited one such location where sapphires were being processed.

Our flight back to Udonthani was a late afternoon flight so we ended up visiting Duang's Bangkok relatives.  With some time on our hands we decided to visit some of Duang's relatives who live and work in Bangkok.  "Live and work" go together even more closely in Thailand and other Asian countries than in many other countries.  Many people in urban areas live in concrete structures call "shop houses".  Shop houses are two story drop front concrete and brick row houses typically 5 to 10 units wide.  Typically a family has a business on the ground floor and sleep upstairs.

Selling Vegetables In Bangkok Working Neighborhood

Businesses run the complete range of activities - small market, restaurant, bicycle shop, photocopy shop, making clothing, motorcycle repair shop, printing shop, electrical repair shop, electronic repair shop, welding shop, and machine shop. Duang's relatives make clothing mainly for tourists.

Duang's Relatives Sewing Custom Clothing

Throughout Bangkok you will find shops, some located in hotels, where you can select fabrics and be custom measured for clothing.  In the vast majority of the locations, the articles of clothing are not manufactured on site.  The measurements and information as to style are sent off site - off site to a working neighborhood where people will make the clothing.  Partially finished and finished products are transported back and forth by motorbike.

Duang's family operate one of the cottage industries where the clothing is made.  The entire staff is related and lives together in the shop house.  They cook and eat along with work on the first floor.  The bathroom is also on the ground floor.  Everyone sleeps upstairs in one large room with curtains hung on ropes strung across the room providing some degree of privacy.

On our first visit back in December 2010, I had explored this neighborhood.  The area is in Southwest Bangkok where very few tourists visit.  The streets are narrow and crowded with family life often spilling out from the shop houses onto the margins of the streets. Where Duang's relatives live the street is so narrow that you have to walk or go by motorbike to get there.  All this contributes to a most interesting neighborhood.  I found places where families were making small purses that are sold in morning as well as night markets.  There were also two other homes where clothing was being produced.  There were several little markets as well as restaurants.  At one home, the women were making greeting cards.  I even found a machine shop where large blades for shearing thick stacks of paper were being sharpened. Around the corner there was a commercial print shop with three offset printing presses.

During last month's visit after paying my respects to the family, I grabbed my camera and set off to explore once again.  The biggest change that I found was that one of the places where little purses were being made two years ago is now occupied by a new family that processes sapphires for the local jewelry industry.

This is a family business with sons, daughters, and in-laws all having duties and responsibilities in the process.  Towards the back of the ground floor room the television was on showing a cartoon show that three small children were attentively watching.

For Some in Thailand - Everyday is "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day"

Sapphires, a mineral called Corundum, need to first be cut roughly into the size and shape required for a specific purpose.  After being cut, the gemstone has to have facets ground into the surface of the stone.  The facets then require polishing to facilitate the reflection and refraction of light i.e "sparkle"

After asking permission to enter, I moved from my streetside location to better positions overlooking the worker's shoulders.  The first work station involved grinding the rough somewhat irregular shaped dark stones into more suitable sizes and shapes.  The work was performed on a mechanical lathe type device.  A single stone was mounted on a plastic shaft and shaped with a silicon carbide wheel.  Periodically the operator stopped to measure and inspect the preform as it developed.



Dimensional Checking of Rough Gemstone

Facets are then cut and polished over the entire preform.  The preform is "dopped" (attached) with adhesive wax, crazy glue, or epoxy on to a metal dopstick which resembles a tapered pencil.  During my visit I did not see this process and because Duang remained with her relatives I did not have a translator to help me understand better what was going on or how it was done.



A Worker Adds Facets Using A Lap, Adjustable Handpiece

Further done the processing line a young man was polishing the facets on some extremely small gems - so small that he had to use a loupe to inspect them and I had to remove my eyeglasses before using the loupe to just barely see the sapphire - sort of makes me think of a butchered recent film title "No Process For Old Men"

Young Worker With A Bunch of Dopped Gems to Be Polished

Addition of the facets and polishing of the facets is accomplished on the same type of equipment.  An electric motor turns a flat rotating metal disk called a lap.  A series of various abrasives, incrementally smaller and smaller in grit size, are spread on the lap for processing the gemstone.  The stone mounted on the dobstick is pressed against the rotating lap and the other end of the dopstick against a vertical mast to achieve as well as maintain proper angles.  A great deal of inspection and verifying of angles is performed during the process.

Inspecting In Process Gems

Taking A Closer Look

After visiting the gemcutters, I continued my tour of the neighborhood.  I found the old man that I had photographed playing chess alongside of the street two years ago.  The Ladyboy who delivers crushed ice from his mother's shophouse across the street from the chess player was still making deliveries to customers on her bicycle.  The machine shop still had four large shear blades to machine.

I visited the printer and he proudly gave me a tour of his shop making special effort to point out the two presses that came from Germany.  He had a large run of government forms that were being printed for Chiang Mai.  He offered me a glass of cold water which even though it was November, I greatly appreciated and needed.  Even in November the temperature is often above 90 F in Bangkok.

I returned to Duang's family shop before I got into trouble ... trouble with Duang.  She worries about me when I am out and about on my own.  I am sure that I could find trouble if I were looking for it on my unaccompanied excursions but I am not looking for it.  Instead I find very friendly people all too willing to share as best they can with a stranger how they live and work.  I hope that in some way that I too am able to share with them some of my ways as our paths cross here in this most interesting land.  It had been a gem of a morning for me - literally and figuratively.