A man irrigating a rice paddy field using a traditional method. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). Japan, circa 1938

A Filipino woman planting rice as she stands knee deep in the waters of a paddy field. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). Circa 1947

Two girls wearing large sunhats in a rice field in Indonesia, one holding a bamboo clapper. When this split bamboo is vibrated by hand, birds are frightened away from the ripening crop. (Photo by Richard Harrington/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

Youths turning a water wheel for the irrigation of Asian rice fields and tea gardens. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

A Chinese farmer wearing traditional clothes working in a rice field before its annual flooding. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

Rice field workers taking their lunch from a communal bowl. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Nigeria, circa 1950

A woman worker passes through rice fields in a rural Japanese village. The large thatched house in the background will house about 25 people, and is typical to the region. (Photo by Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

A Japanese woman removing weeds from a rice field. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1950

One of the women working in a north Italian rice field rests against a friend. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images). 28th June 1951

Rice is stacked in bundles in the fields in Bali after it is cut. It is then carried to a granary for storage. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1954

A farmer guides two oxen ploughing a paddy field in central India. The fields stretch for miles with no greenery, apart from lines of palm trees placed to mark field boundaries. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Despite being best known for its wine and cork harvests, Portugal's rice fields have been a booming part of the country's economy since it was inherited from Arab Invaders; here a field worker in traditional Portuguese dress. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images). 29th October 1955

Women at work transplanting seedlings in a rice field on the Malabar Coast in the south-west of India. Rice is grown on coastal plains, tidal deltas and river basins where fresh water is available to submerge the land. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1960

A farm worker ploughing a rice paddy with a plough pulled by a water buffalo in Taiwan (Formosa). (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

A Vietnamese home-guard protects rice-paddy field workers in the Mekong Delta against attacks from guerillas who want to impede the South Vietnamese food supply. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 12th March 1962

A Taiwanese farm worker pulls a water buffalo by the nose after a long day working in the rice fields. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 19th October 1968