Most of rice farmers in northeastern Thailand (Isaan)
use growing methods that they learned from their ances
-
tors. They usually grow rice once a year, beginning in the
rainy season (June-August) and harvest at the beginning
of the cold/dry season (November-December). This this
is known as
na pee
. Farmers rarely grow rice two times
a year but when they do, they rely on water collected in
dams and grow the second crop during the dry season.
This second crop is know as
na plang
. There are two
types of rice field in the northeast Thailand which are de
-
termined by the method used to grow the rice.
Na daam
refers to a rice field which is grown from rice seedlings.
Na waan
refers to a rice field which is grown by scatter
-
ing rice seeds throughout the harrowed field blocks. Most
rice fields in Thailand are
na daam
. Isaan rice farmers
usually grow glutinous rice (
Oryza sativa
L. var.
glutinosa
(Lour.) Körn) for personal consumption and non-glutinous
jasmine rice (
Oryza sativa
L. var.
sativa
) for sale because jasmine rice can be sold for a greater price. The meth
-
od of growing rice among rice farmers in northeastern,
Thailand using the
na daam
process (Worakawin 2004)
is outlined below.