Rice terrace farming

The stone-walled rice terraces of the Philippine Cordillera and the shared-water rice fields of Bali are communal works of engineering: spring water is led downhill through channels and gates so that every field floods and drains in its turn.

How it is played

Farmers follow a calendar of planting, flooding, weeding and harvest set by the community, and the irrigation council of each valley decides when each group of fields may take water.

Heritage note

Part of the living heritage of Philippines, Indonesia.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Southeast Asia and the Islands.