Rice Plus

Modern farmers should preserve their rice lands' diverse terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic plants and animals that contribute nutrition, medicines and income.

Rice fields are important for both rice production and the great biodiversity they possess. Paddy landscapes parallel some of the most diverse natural ecosystems on earth, harboring more than 100 useful plant species and an enormous diversity of insects, fish, invertebrates, birds and small mammals. This biodiversity is essential to the livelihood of poor farmers, who depend on it as a free source of food, medicine, building materials, fuel and fodder, as well as for manufacturing domestic tools, utensils and handicrafts. Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is also vital to regulating ecosystem processes and practicing integrated pest management - and so to the sustainability of the production.

The collection and consumption of wild food plants from agricultural fields have been documented in many cultures, illustrating their importance to farming households in agrarian societies around the world. Wild food plants are critical sources of nutrients, flavorings and medicines. They even serve as famine food in times of scarcity. Such plants help balance the diet of the rural poor, especially toward meeting the nutritional needs of children and women.

In northeast Thailand, the poorest region of the country, wild food plants from rice fields are essential to farm households' food security. Farmers in this region also harvest insects, fish, birds, frogs, crabs, snails and rats from their fields for inclusion in their diet. Wild food plants and animals are important ingredients of local dishes and the culinary tradition of this region. Many poor farmers, especially women, gather them to sell for cash.

Traditional rice farmers maintain diverse aquatic, semi-aquatic, and terrestrial habitats that are ecologically intertwined. Hillocks, shelters, pond margins, roadsides and tree rows are examples of terrestrial habitats. Paddies can be dry or flooded depending on the season and access to irrigation, whilst ponds provide aquatic habitats. The distribution of plant diversity in these habitats is not only related to the species' water tolerance and life cycle, but also to the different degrees of management they have. The way traditional farmers manage rice landscapes and wild food plants is towards preserving and encouraging wild species valued as food or that have multiple uses.

This situation is different in central Thailand, where rice production has long since more intensive and the landscape more homogeneous. Rice landscapes there have fewer biodiversity-rich habitats such as ponds, hillocks, tree rows and shelters than in northeast Thailand. The brown planthopper outbreak in 2010 affected the central plains so badly because the natural enemies to the hopper had disappeared, according to K.L. Heong, an expert in integrated pest management at the International Rice Research Institute.

In a village in Kalasin Province in northeast Thailand, more than 80 wild food plants are consumed. Yet agronomists traditionally regard 30% of the herbs, shrubs, vines and trees that grow in the diverse habitats of the rice landscape as weeds and urge their removal. Furthermore, in the last 20 years, the intensification of agriculture, introduction of agrochemicals and mechanization, migration of the young to urban areas for jobs, and deforestation threaten the availability of wild food plants.

Farmers know that wild food plants from rice fields are likely to be contaminated by agrochemicals, especially pesticides. To cope, most farmers do not collect wild food plants during the 3 weeks following pesticide application. Some keep separate fields of rice and wild food plants for their own consumption where they do not use pesticides at all.

Labor shortages caused by out-migration encourage mechanization, which tends to homogenize landscapes to facilitate the use of tractors. This eliminates many habitats such as hillocks that harbor diverse useful vegetables, fruit trees, vines and insects. Young people's migration away from rural areas also disrupts the handing down of knowledge about indentifying, managing and preparing wild foods. Further, children's food preferences are shifting to vegetables consumed more commonly in cities, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage and carrots.

Given the importance of wild foods harvested from rice landscapes, trends toward the loss of biodiversity and traditional knowledge are alarming. To preserve wild food as a resource for local communities and maximize their benefits for poor rural households, a holistic and integrated approach to managing rice landscapes is vital.