From the data collection of the fieldwork in Perlis by researchers (March 2008), Mr. Won Khunsritani, a
57-year-old farmer who used to hire labourers from Thailand, told that 20-30 years ago, he used to get the
labourers from Songkhla. All of the labourers were male who came to bat the rice. The labourers came 4-5 people
at a time from Ban Kuan So, Ban Bo Daeng, and Sathing Phra district and the labourers who came to transplant
rice seedlings were from Satun and most of the labourers were married females. They were approximately 30-40
years old. Most of them were from Ban Kuan, Ban Kuan Don, and Thung Nui. They would stay 30-45 days each
entrance. However, he did not hire any Thai labor for 10 years. This might be due to the changes of using
machines to plough, sow, and harvest. The seasonal migrants from the southern Thai border provinces are still
employed to work in the areas where the machines cannot be operated in the fields in Kedah, Alor Setar and near
border, but this case is not found much.