Extreme weather events and pest outbreaks decrease rice yields and increase their variability, presenting challenges for the agricultural agenda to increase rice productivity and yield stability in Asia. The integration of azolla, fish and ducks has been shown to create robust systems that maintain high yields under heavy rainfall, but no clear evidence exists that rice yields in these systems are stable across locations and throughout time under divergent weather conditions. We show that the introduction of additional elements into the rice cropping system enhanced the adaptive capacity to extreme weather events across four locations and three cropping cycles. The complex system showed both static and dynamic stability, and had the highest reliability index, thereby outperforming the conventional and organic monoculture systems. The complex rice system design provides a promising example for resilience towards the impacts of climate change on rice production and for safeguarding food security in Asia and beyond.

Purpose: Complex rice systems (CRSs) are polycultures of plants and animals that enhance ecological processes contributing to sustainable and profitable farming systems. However, the contextual management complexity can hamper adoption, despite the large long-term benefits that CRSs offer. This paper aimed to provide a method that encourages active farmer involvement and integrates farmer’s feedback to deliver timely adaptations to CRS management. Design/methodology/approach: FFSs that are commonly used in guiding rural development processes involve a long process of preparation, weekly meetings and dissemination of new technologies with a greater knowledge flows from researchers or institutions to farmers than contrariwise. We have simplified FFS components and modified its curriculum focusing on extracting and integrating farmers’ feedback into adaptation measures. Surveys were conducted and their results were validated through focus group discussions, which provided an adequate database to simplify the steps in the FFS approach. Findings: Only four meetings for agroecosystems analysis that emphasised an analytical and reflective learning cycle generated suitable adaptation measures selected from farmers’ feedback. Repetition of the shortened FFS over several rice cropping cycles proved more effective than the frequent meetings within one cropping cycle. Practical implications: The modified FFS could be considered as a promising approach to training farmers, whilst simultaneously identifying and discovering adaptations of agricultural innovations and monitoring the evolution of complex polycultures like CRSs, under diverse conditions. Theoretical implications: The modified FFS provides participants additional time to reflect on the training topics, resulting in a significant improvement in their knowledge and the performance of the CRS. Originality/value: The modified FFS approach is focused on reflexive learning cycles and adaptation of innovations. Therefore, it is highly suitable for management of complex polycultures such as CRSs.

The increasing population in Indonesia is challenging rice production to feed more people while rice fields are being converted to other land-use land cover (LULC). This study analyzes land use in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2025 using an artificial neural network cellular automata (ANN-CA) and rice data from Statistics Indonesia to predict future rice status in Malang Districts, Indonesia. The primary LULC change driver was the rapid conversion of rice fields, which had their area reduced by 18% from 2019 to 2021 and 2% from 2021 to 2025. Rice fields are mainly being converted to settlements and buildings. The Kappa coefficient of simulation achieved 88%, with 91 accuracies. The model predicted a 2% lower rate of rice production but a 3% higher demand in 2025 compared to 2021. Lower rice production and higher demand are predicted to reduce the rice surplus by 57% in 2025, suggesting that the Malang district might lower its supply of rice to other areas by 2025. Our study provides a food crisis early warning system that decision makers can use to form adequate strategic plans and solutions to combat food insecurity.

Small-scale farmers in South-East Asia face serious challenges in agricultural productivity, food security and environmental degradation. Complex Rice Systems (CRS) entail an integrated farming approach that combines new technologies with traditional practices and knowledge to sustainably increase agricultural productivity. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of CRS by adding rice, fish, ducks and border crops to rice fields in Lima Puluh Kota (West Sumatra, Indonesia) to improve rice productivity and dietary nutrient supply. The treatments were: conventional rice (CON), organic rice (ORR), organic rice with border crops (ORB), organic rice with fish (ORF), organic rice with ducks (ORD), and organic rice with ducks, fish, and border crops (CRS). The experiment resulted in improvements in growth, development and yield of rice in CRS and ORD compared to other treatments. Despite elevated costs, treatments with ducks also resulted in a higher gross margin than the other treatments. CRS produced the most diverse nutritional composition, and higher nutritional value compared to ORD. It was concluded that CRS can contribute to higher rice yields, improved farm income and more diversified diets, and thus providing a comprehensive approach to improve livelihoods and food security of small-scale farmers.

Traditionally, rice agroecosystems with complex wetland and dryland habitats have a great wealth of biological and cultural diversity. After the Green Revolution, rice production underwent a dramatic transformation driven by the expansion of monoculture rice fields, high-intensity cropping cycles, and utilization of commercial rice varieties and agrochemicals. The resulting loss of biocultural diversity has amplified an urgent call for another transformation to restore agrobiodiversity. Despite numerous interventions for knowledge dissemination on agrobiodiversity, little is known about the long-term impacts of those interventions on farmers’ practices and perceptions. Focusing on farm income and farmers’ perceptions towards rice farming systems, we report on findings from exploratory surveys conducted 5 years after a Farmer Field School (FFS) intervention that set up complex rice system (CRS) demonstration farms in Lamongan, Indonesia. Findings showed that the highest income was achieved by farmers who cultivated more than two species on their rice bunds, followed by farmers who grew two species, with the least income achieved by farmers who grew only rice. This study also demonstrated that proper selection of crops complementary to rice was a key to success, along with a slight widening of the rice bunds. Focus group discussions with three groups of farmers suggested that inputs and income were the most emphasized components of monoculture, while planting vegetables and other crops on rice bunds was an additional central component in rice farming systems with two and more than two species. These findings support the argument that diversifying rice fields could improve a rice farm’s economic performance. Therefore, incorporating economic considerations into the promotion of agrobiodiversity is critical to protect and sustain rice farming businesses.