In a few days one of the rain seasons will begin. Therefore the fields must be prepared for seeding. Most of the farm work of the local farmers is done manually. Once I’ve seen two oxes pulling a plow and Charles, our neighbour and employee, told me that some farmers may even use tractors for that but it’s very rare as they can simply not afford to rent a tractor let alone buy one.
To prepare a field the farmers would simply burn the leftovers from their last harvest and all the stubborn grasses that cannot even be used to feed their animals (the grasses can be used for the roofing of the traditional roundhouses though). As it can be very dry they prefer doing this in the evening when it’s a bit cooler. They would first check the winds and then burn – according to the location - a few lanes where the fire is supposed to stop. They control the fire and extinguish it by hitting on it with branches or with some plowing tools or by using shovels. Usually the farmers prefer to not doing this alone as a fire can easily get out of control. In contrast to that, the fire that you can see on the following pictures was initiated and controlled by a single farmer only. As this was a bit risky, the neighbours where checking on it as well. Charles told me that his home was once destroyed when such a fire got out of control.
On the day after the field is ready for the plowing.
the fire is supposed to stop on the lane in the background
then the area is being burnt
here you can see how the fire wanders through the area
the field after the burning
manual plowing of the fields
after the plowing the field is ready for seeding before the rain season starts
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