Real Cows Vs "Robot Cows" for Cambodian Farmers

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Real Cows Vs "Robot Cows" for Cambodian Farmers

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October 18, 2021
Despite ‘robot cows’ abundance, few villagers still use real cows
Moeun Chhean Nariddh / Khmer Times

Both the Khmer and some foreign cultures share a similar tale about a turtle and a rabbit which goes as follows:

One day a rabbit was boasting about how fast he could run. He was laughing at the turtle for being so slow. Much to the rabbit’s surprise, the turtle challenged him to a race.

The rabbit thought this was a good joke and accepted the challenge. The fox was to be the referee of the race. As the race began, the rabbit raced way ahead of the turtle, just like everyone thought.

The rabbit got to the halfway point and could not see the turtle anywhere. He was hot and tired and decided to stop and take a short nap. Even if the turtle passed him, he would be able to race to the finish line ahead of him. All this time the turtle kept walking step by step by step. He never quit no matter how hot or tired he got. He just kept going.

However, the rabbit slept longer than he had thought and woke up. He could not see the turtle anywhere! He went at full speed to the finish line but found the turtle there waiting for him.

Now, a new modern-age tale has emerged in rural Cambodia about villagers with real cows challenging fellow villagers with the power of the ‘Robot Cows’.

As their living conditions have improved along with the modern farming technology, many Cambodian farmers have sold their cows and ox-carts and bought the two-wheel Thai-made farm tractors and have coined the name ‘Ko Yun’ or ‘Robot Cows’ for them.

Nevertheless, a few farmers, such as Yeth Mara, a 40-year-old villager in Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district some 40 kilometres northeast of Phnom Penh, still continue making their living using their cows to pull ox-carts and to plow and rake their rice fields.

“I have used my ox-cart for 20 years now,” says Mara. “My cows and ox-carts have helped support my family for a long time.”

Mara says he bought his ox-cart in gold which was equivalent to $150 of the then US currency value. But, he says he has sold and bought new cows many times over the past two decades.

“My last pair of cows can be sold for around $5,000,” he says. “So, Ko Yun can’t be compared to the price of my real cows.”

The father of three sons and one daughter says his cows and ox-cart have been used for all kinds of transport – from carrying rice and firewood to carrying people to and from the farmland.

“Now, local farmers have hired me to transport their sugarcane from their farms,” he says, showing bundles of sugarcane in his ox-cart and a large pile near a pagoda fence.

Mara says he can earn between $15 and $20 per day from transporting sugarcane in his ox-cart for fellow farmers when he is not rice farming.

“In my whole village, only me and another villager still use cows and ox-carts,” he says. “Most farmers are now using Ko Yun.”

Yet, Mara says the power of Ko Yun cannot be compared to the strength of his cows and ox-carts when it comes to transporting sugarcane from the flooded farmland.

“Ko Yun will get bogged down,” he says. “But, my cows and ox-cart can easily come and go.”

Indeed, real cows never rest or rust unlike ‘robot cows’ when they break down or run out of fuel on the way.
Full article: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50953664/d ... real-cows/
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