The tips of the rice plants are still green and they have not yet reached the height of an adults knee. However plants that have been growing for only one month must be removed down to their roots. If they are not removed immediately, they will be drowned by mud, said Kunari, the owner of a 15-square-meter rice field in Renokenongo village in Sidoarjo, East Java.

On Tuesday afternoon two weeks ago, the man with five children had finished pulling o