page_title: Paddy field
section_title: India
hierarchical_section_title: Paddy field / Culture / India
caption_attribution_description: English: karthalipalem
context_page_description: A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the Austronesian expansion to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
  Fields can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such as rivers or marshes. They can require a great deal of labor and materials to create and need large quantities of water for irrigation. Oxen and water buffalo, adapted for life in wetlands, are important working animals used extensively in paddy field farming.
  Paddy-field farming remains the dominant form of growing rice in modern times.
context_section_description: India has the largest paddy output in the world and is also the fourth largest exporter of rice in the world. In India, West Bengal is the largest rice producing state. Paddy fields are a common sight throughout India, both in the northern gangetic plains and the southern peninsular plateaus. Paddy is cultivated at least twice a year in most parts of India, the two seasons being known as Rabi and Kharif respectively. The former cultivation is dependent on irrigation, while the latter depends on Monsoon. The paddy cultivation plays a major role in socio-cultural life of rural India. Many festivals such as Onam in Kerala, Bihu in Assam, Makara Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Thai Pongal In Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranti in Karnataka, Nabanna in West Bengal celebrates harvest of Paddy. Kaveri delta region of Thanjavur is historically known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu and Kuttanadu is called the rice bowl of Kerala.Gangavathi is known as rice bowl of karnataka
caption: Rice fields with seedlings planted in the village of Karthalipalem, Andhra Pradesh, India
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