About 34% of the world’s total rice land, or approximately 54 million hectares are rainfed. Rainfed lowlands are characterized by a lack of water control, with floods, drought, and soil constraints being potential problems. Most rainfed lowlands depend on erratic rainfall, hence conditionas are diverse and unpredictable.

Suitable modern varieties and associated production technologies have been limited, keeping farmers from being able to increase productivity, hence most farmers are poor. Requiring different rice varieties and management strategies, farmers have developed a range of practices that address variability across sites as well as heterogeneity within local ecosystems.

The rainfed lowlands include areas in which farmers grow only one crop of rice, although in some areas framers grow rice and a postrice crop. Farmers typically grow traditional photoperiod-sensitive cultivars and traditional varieties with tolerance to rainfed constraints of drought, floods, and soil stresses. They invest their labor instead of purchasing inputs.
To increase yields and improve livelihood, our scientists and researchers are trying to produce new varieties with tolerance for submergence, late transplanting, and resistance to lodging in order to allow farmers to apply fertilizers and use more intensive weed management practices. Scientists are also coming up with improved farming practices for nutrient management, crop establishment, weed and pest control.