It is the staple food of over half the world's population. On top of that, global rice production occurs on such a massive scale that the political, economic, religious and cultural status of many of the world's nations is linked to the presence of this one precious cereal. Rice is unique amongst the world's commercial crops in that it is semi-aquatic. Because of this, it is found growing under very diverse conditions, from dry land to as deep as six metres of water. The traditional and modern methods of growing rice could not be more different .
Rice is the only major crop in the world capable of growing under water.
In fact, rice is so well adapted to living in water that it survives even when its roots become dislodged from the soil by flooding. Traditional rice production occurs in paddy fields, which comes from the Malaysian word for rice growing in deep water. This is the primary method used in Asia. Paddy fields in Indonesia, China and South East Asia have been carefully built and maintained through extremely hard labour for thousands of years. For farmers using traditional methods, rice growing is an all-consuming daily occupation.