Hurray, the rainy season has started!

After many very dry and very hot weeks, the heatwave is broken and the rainy season has started.

During the last weeks daily temperatures in the shade regularly exceeded 44°C (111°F). It was a heavy burden for all. Preparing the fields in that weather was almost unbearable for our farmers. 3 days ago, the heatwave broke with fairly early heavy rains. This brought the temperature down by more then 10°C (15°F)
The storms that accompanied these rains were heavy, many building were damaged. One of our farmers was hit by a falling tree on the way home and is in a coma.

The pictures with this blogpost are idealized but represent well our joy that the heatwave is broken. We now hope that rainy season will be fairly regular. El Nina Years often bring excess rains. It is good that the traditional Jasmine Rice varieties our farmers plant are both rather drought and flooding tolerant.

During the next 4 weeks, field preparations will finish and planting will be under way.