The bitter days of sweet sugarcane

If a food has to undergo bitterness to become sweet, I think sugar cane is worthy of the name. The process of cutting sugarcane is very hard, but the sugar and brown sugar finally squeezed out are sweet. Some people call planting sugar cane a "sweet cause", which is just right.

10 years ago, corn, peanuts, rice and soybeans were also planted here (a town in central Guangxi), but the income was not high. Since the introduction of sugar cane, most people here have planted sugar cane, and each family has at least five acres. People are willing to plant it and earn a good income. It can be said that the source of income here is sugar cane, and life without sugar cane will be much more difficult.

After resigning last year, I was temporarily at home, catching up with the sugarcane cutting season and joining the army of sugarcane cutting. Because sugar cane has to be transported to the sugar factory, the sugar factory will start unified transportation only when it reaches a certain weight when pulling the cart, instead of cutting and pulling it by itself. Because of this, sugar factories will queue up for invoices from sugarcane farmers. It is not easy to get the ticket, because it is very difficult to cut enough sugar cane 15 tons within four days after getting the ticket. Two or three people simply can't do it. If you don't start pulling the train before you lose enough weight, your ticket will be invalid until the next batch of tickets. The weight of sugarcane exposed to the sun in the field will be reduced, which is the loss. Therefore, everyone is a team of about ten people, and you can cut enough sugar cane in two or three days. Everyone in the group takes turns cutting. Today, your family will come to my house in two days.

Whether it is rainy or sunny, it is not good to cut sugar cane. On rainy days, the body will get wet and the body will be very uncomfortable; When the sun is shining, the weather is sultry, and it is most suitable for cloudy days with wind. However, farm work has to be done at the right time, no matter how hard and tired it is.

There is also a division of labor when cutting sugar cane. A few people (mostly men) are responsible for cutting sugar cane into yards, while most people are responsible for cleaning sugar cane leaves and tying sugar cane. If the sugarcane field is close to the road, it is not bad. Just carry the tied sugar cane to the side of the road and wait for the sugar factory to start. If the sugar cane field is far away from the road and the sugar factory car can't be pulled in, you have to manually install a smaller car, such as a common walking tractor in rural areas, and pull it to the place where the sugar factory car is connected. If it's remote, you have to transport the sugarcane out by horse.

We bring our own meals, and we cook a variety of dishes, including peppers, scrambled eggs with soybeans and sauerkraut ... anyway, it's good to eat comfortably. Generally, I have dinner twice a day and have a rest, once in the morning 1 1 and once in the afternoon 14. Generally, the owners of sugarcane fields will bring wine to help people drink, and the process of cutting sugarcane will smoke from time to time, which can be regarded as the welfare of rural work.

Sugarcane increases farmers' income, sweetens farmers' lives, and the extracted sucrose sweetens people's dining tables.