You may be familiar with the picturesque image of rice paddies — lush, green fields, perhaps stacked in terraces — but do you know how rice gets from the paddy to your plate? The process is seriously labour-intensive, requiring more steps than you might think would be necessary for such tiny, little grains. A staple found all over the world, rice is grown everywhere from Minnesota to Myanmar and from Malaysia to Mysuru. The focus of this Weekend Star Supplement is rice harvesting in Mysuru region where farmers are finding it difficult to rent out harvesting machines in this peak season.
By S.T. Ravikumar and M.T. Yogesh Kumar
