With the war in Iran creating a shortage of the fuel and fertilizer that farmers across Asia need to plant and harvest rice, many smallholders are seeking alternative supplies or pondering whether to plant at all.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, agriculture reporter Hallie Gu tells host K. Oanh Ha what the bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz means for rice farmers from Cambodia to India — and how the fate of the region’s staple crop shapes its economy and politics.