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Paddy field

A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Rice can also be grown in dry-fields, but from the twentieth century paddy field agriculture became the dominant form of growing rice. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of east, south and southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are also found in other rice-growing regions such as Piedmont (Italy), the Camargue (France) and the Artibonite Valley (Haiti), and the remains of rice paddies still define much of landscape of the Carolina Lowcountry.

Paddy fields can be built adjacent to otherwise natural areas such as rivers or marshes. They can be constructed, often on steep hillsides with much labor and materials. The fields require large quantities of water for irrigation. Flooding provides water essential to the growth of the crop. Water also provides a favorable environment for the rice strains being grown as well as discouraging the growth of many species of weeds. The water buffalo is the only working animal adapted for life in wetlands so they are extensively used in paddy fields.

Growing rice has an adverse environmental impact because of the large quantities of methane gas it generates. World methane production due to paddy fields has been estimated to be in the range of 50 to 100 million tonnes per annum. This level of greenhouse gas generation is a large component of the global warming threat produced from an expanding human population. However, recent studies have shown that methane can be significantly reduced while also boosting crop yield by draining the paddies allowing the soil to aerate, which interrupts methane production.



Archaeologists generally accept that wet-field cultivation originated in China. At Caoxieshan, a site of the Neolithic Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields . Some archaeologists claim that Caoxieshan may date to 4000-3000 B.C., but as of now the oldest excavated rice paddy field dated by absolute scientific dating techniques are from Korea. There is archaeological evidence that unhusked rice was stored for the military and for burial with the deceased from the Neolithic period to the Han Dynasty in China.

Korean paddy-field farming is ancient. A pit-house at the Daecheon-ni site yielded carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates indicating that rice cultivation in dry-fields may have begun as early as the Middle Jeulmun Pottery Period (c. 3500-2000 B.C.) in the Korean Peninsula. Ancient paddy fields have been carefully unearthed in Korea by institutes such as Kyungnam University Museum (KUM) of Masan. They excavated paddy field features at the Geumcheon-ni Site near Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. The paddy field feature was found next to a pit-house that is dated to the latter part of the Early Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1100-850 B.C.). KUM has conducted excavations that have revealed similarly dated paddy field features at Yaeum-dong and Okhyeon in modern-day Ulsan.

The earliest Mumun features were usually located in low-lying narrow gullies that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. Some Mumun paddy fields in flat areas were made of a series of squares and rectangles separated by bunds approximately 10 cm in height, while terraced paddy fields consisted of long irregular shapes that followed natural contours of the land at various levels.

Mumun Period rice farmers used all of the elements that are present in today's paddy fields such terracing, bunds, canals, and small reservoirs. We can grasp some paddy-field farming techniques of the Middle Mumun (c. 850-550 B.C.) from the well-preserved wooden tools excavated from archaeological rice fields at the Majeon-ni Site. However, iron tools for paddy-field farming were not introduced until sometime after 200 B.C. The spatial scale of paddy-fields increased with the regular use of iron tools in the Three Kingdoms of Korea Period (c. A.D. 300/400-668).

The first paddy fields in Japan date to the Early Yayoi period. The Early Yayoi has been re-dated and thus it appears that wet-field agriculture developed at approximately the same time as in the Korean peninsula.






Rice appears to have been used by the Early Neolithic populations of Lijiacun and Yunchanyan in China. Evidence of possible rice cultivation from ca. 11,500 BP has been found, however it is still questioned whether the rice was indeed being cultivated, or instead being gathered as wild rice. Bruce Smith, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who has written on the origins of agriculture, says that evidence has been mounting that the Yangtze was probably the site of the earliest rice cultivation. In 1998, Crawford & Shen reported that the earliest of 14 AMS or radiocarbon dates on rice from at least nine Early to Middle Neolithic sides is no older than 7000 BC, that rice from the Hemudu and Luojiajiao sites indicates that rice domestication likely began before 5000 BC, but that most sites in China from which rice remains have been recovered are younger than 5000 BC.


It should be noted that in circa 750, 75 per cent of China's population lived north of the river Yangtse. But by 1250, 75 per cent of China's population lived south of the river Yangtse. Such large-scale internal migration was possible due to introduction of quick-ripening strains of rice from Vietnam suitable for multi-cropping.



Paddy fields are common sight throughout India, be they northern gangetic plain or southern penininsular plateau. Paddy is cultivated at least twice a year in the most parts of India,the two seasons being known as Rabi & Kharif respectively. The former cultivation is dependent on irrigation while latter depends on Monsoon. The paddy cultivation plays a major role in socio-cultural life of rural India.Many festivals such as Bihu in Assam, Pongal In Tamilnadu, Nabanna in West Bengal celebrates harvest of Paddy.




The fertile volcanic soil of much of the Indonesian archipelago—and particularly the islands of Java and Bali-- has made rice a central dietary staple. Steep terrain on Bali resulted in an intricate cooperation systems, locally called subak, to manage water storage and drainage for rice terraces.


Rice is grown in northern Italy, especially in the valley of the river Po. The paddy fields are irrigated by fast-flowing streams descending from the Alps. Risotto, a rice dish flavoured with saffron is a typical dish from the rice-growing area near Milan that has now travelled around the world.



Today, many family names have ta as a component, a practice which can be largely attributed to a government edict in the early Meiji Period requiring all Japanese people to have a family name. Many chose a name based on or near the place they lived or the job they had, and with nearly three fourths of population being farmers, many made family names using ta. Some common examples are Tanaka (田中) and Nakata (中田), literally meaning "middle of paddy field," Kawada (川田), "paddy field by a river," and Furuta (古田), "old paddy field."



The Chinese (or Sino-Korean) character for 'field', jeon (Hangeul: 전; Hanja: 田), is found in some place names, especially small farming townships and villages. However, the specific Korean term for 'paddy' is derived from Sino-Korean and is literally 'water-field' or sujeon (Hangeul: 수전; Hanja: 水田).






Paddy fields are a common sight in the Philippines. Several vast paddy fields exist in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Cagayan, Bulacan, etc. Nueva Ecija produces the biggest share of rice for national food security.

Banaue rice terraces

The Banaue Rice Terraces are located in Northern Luzon and were built by the Ifugaos 2,000 years ago. Streams and springs found in the mountains were tapped and channeled into irrigation canals that run downhill through the rice terraces. Other notable Philippine paddy fields are the Batad Rice Terraces, the Bangaan Rice Terraces, the Mayoyao Rice Terraces and the Hapao Rice Terraces.




Thailand has a strong tradition of rice production. It has the fifth-largest amount of land under rice cultivation in the world and is the world's largest exporter of rice. Thailand has plans to further increase its land available for rice production, with a goal of adding 500,000 hectares to its already 9.2 million hectares of rice-growing areas. The Thai Ministry of Agriculture expects rice production to yield around 30 million tons of rice for 2008. The most produced strain of rice in Thailand is jasmine rice, which is a higher quality type of rice. However, jasmine has a significantly lower yield rate than other types of rice, but it also normally fetches more than double the price of other strains in a global market.


Rice fields in Vietnam (ruộng, cánh đồng or điền in Vietnamese) are the predominant land use in the valley of the Red River and the Mekong Delta). In the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, farmers must dam up (nowadays 3000 km long) against the annual flood, and it is also the necessary condition to form an alliance among Vietnamese ancient tribals to found Vietnamese people's first state. In the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, there is an interlacing drainage and irrigation canal system that has become the symbol of this area and impacts on the lifestyle of local people. In Northwestern Vietnam, Thai people built their "valley culture" based on the economic foundation of glutinous rice upland fields.

The primary festival related to rice fields is "lễ hạ điền" (Vietnamese)/"lồng tồng" (Tay language) in the first day of every crop wishing for yield more than usual. In the past, this was the official national ceremony that the King would make the first plough and people would worship Than Nong (god of agriculture), thổ địa (god of the soil), thành hoàng làng (god of the village), and thần lúa (god of rice plants).

During the Trần Dynasty, there were three kinds of rice field: ruộng quốc khố (national budget rice field) with 3 levels, ruộng thác điền with 3 levels (the name derives from a story about Lê Phụng Hiểu. He refused the King's present for his feat of arms but required that how far he would throw his knife would be how wide of a rice field he could possess. Since then, it's become the name of rice field for rewarding Vietnamese mandarins: thác đao- abbreviation: thác- throw the knife and điền- rice field), and ruộng ao of the common people.

In Vietnamese literature, a rice field is described as wide enough for a flock of storks to span their wings across: "đồng lúa thẳng cánh cò bay" and the sway of rice plants in the wind is compared to waves of the sea and called "sóng lúa". These images are very common phrases describing the beauty of the Vietnamese landscape. (Wikipedia)
