Lunbawang folks of Long Semadoh highlands uphold traditional way of planting paddy
The farmers of Long Semadoh conduct harvesting together.
JANUARY is inarguably a very important month for the Lunbawang folks on the Long Semadoh highlands, near Ba Kelalan in Lawas, in that it marks the arrival of the rice harvest season.
Throughout the month and into the next, the farmers and their lots would be fully involved in the crop-to-consumption processing of these precious grains – reaping, threshing, winnowing, drying, cleaning and milling – and depending on the size of their paddy fields, these series of activities could carry on between two and four weeks.
Takung Butal, 69, could be seen spreading the dehusked grains evenly over sheets of tarpaulins at one of her plots, leaving them to dry under the late morning sun.
“On the highlands, the sun goes up quite late, usually around 9am. This morning, however, it was a bit cloudy; the sun finally came out past 11am, so I rushed out of the field to dry these grains, which we harvested just a few days ago,” she told thesundaypost.
According to Takung, they would kick off paddy-planting in July, starting with cleaning and clearing the fields.
“Some of us, however, would clear the fields as soon as they have done harvesting.
“In the past, we used to get buffaloes to help us till the plots.
“Today, many farmers still do clearing works manually, using sickles or hoes – some have opted for grass-cutting machines, which are faster,” she said, adding that while clearing, they would also set up nurseries nearby for the seedlings.
Takung spreads the dehusked grains evenly over the tarpaulins, leaving them to dry under the sun.
Takung said in terms of transplanting the ‘ripe’ seedlings, the whole village would do this at the same time, usually in August.
She also pointed out that while waiting for the paddy to mature, loads of work must be done to ensure healthy growth.
“A lot of care must be put in ensuring that the paddy would grow healthily, including controlling the irrigation. If there’s too much water in the field, it would destroy the crop.
“All of this would determine whether or not it’s going to be a bountiful harvest.
“Usually by the end of December or early January, the paddy is mature for harvesting.”
A buffalo can be seen on a plot belonging to Takung’s fellow villager.
‘Inherited trade’
Takung, who is a single-mother of four children aged between 50 and 28, learned all the basics of paddy-planting from her father.
She attended school only until Primary 5; it was full-time paddy-planting after that for her.
“This is a family tradition, one that I inherit from my father, who inherited from his parents, who in turn, inherited it from my great-grandparents.”
Nonetheless, Takung still found paddy-planting ‘hard work’, despite having been doing it for almost six decades.
“I don’t think my youngest daughter Glady could do all this work,” she smiled.
“But thankfully, my (third) son Prestley Lucas is following my footsteps. At least, this family’s tradition would continue on after me.
“It is hard work, but at the end of it when you get to eat the rice that you’ve put so much effort into planting, you’d be indescribably satisfied; your heart would be filled with gratitude,” she added.
‘No heavy machinery’
Nowadays, the paddy farmers of Long Semadoh run the wet-field system, but in the past, they did plant hill paddy, which did not have the need for irrigation.
One thing that remains, though, is that these highland Lunbawang folks are steadfast in planting paddy the traditional way – no heavy machinery is involved.
“We are still maintaining the old way, but we do use machines for threshing and winnowing – they just do the job much faster,” said Takung.
Prestley helps Takung thresh the just-harvested paddy using a machine.
Majority of the farmers in Long Semadoh have also opted for the simple sickles, which are available at any hardware store.
“The modern sickle actually works much faster than the traditional, homemade one – you gather the stalks into a bundle and cut it in one go, which really saves time and energy.”
This year, Takung is planting paddy of Adan variety in two plots.
“I have five plots this year, two of which I rent from from a villager here who is not planting.
“On these two plots, I reserve for ‘Beras’ (rice) Adan; the rest, I have black and red rice varieties,” she said.
Takung said she was happy with her harvest this year.
Once done, she estimated that the yield from the five plots would come to 100 gunny sacks, about the same as last year’s harvest.
“I am thankful that it is a good harvest this year. We would definitely keep some (rice) for our own consumption, including giving some packs to our family members in town.
“I would also sell some of it to earn extra income for my family,” she smiled.
Takung shows the plot where she has planted ‘black rice’.
Beras Adan – A Lunbawang’s pride
The Lunbawang highlands are well-known for its cool and refreshing environment, attributable to it being home to the highest mountain in Sarawak – Gunung Murud, of which the summit reaches up to 7,950 feet (nearing 2,500 metres).
However, when it comes to a specialty offering for visitors, the Lunbawang people take pride in their homegrown Beras Adan.
“Our Adan rice is so special – it is grown on the highlands, it is chemical-free and it tastes so good.
“If you ever come to visit the highlands, you must not forget to buy some Adan rice to bring back home as a souvenir to your friends and family,” said Takung.
In 2012, Beras Adan was awarded the Certificate of Geographic Indication (GI) by the government of Indonesia in acknowledgement of its characteristics peculiar to the Krayan Highlands (encompassing the mountainous borders shared between Malaysia and Kalimantan on the island of Borneo).
Only rice from this region could be promoted and marketed with the name ‘Adan’.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3oKew15
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