Rice bean (Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi and Ohashi) is a tropical to temperate grain legume primarily grown for food, especially in Asia. Rice bean seeds and vegetative parts are also used for fodder. Rice bean is a multipurpose legume, sometimes considered as neglected and underutilized. However, though less important than cowpea, adzuki bean and mung bean, rice bean is a locally important contributor to human nutrition in parts of India and South-East Asia. All parts of the rice bean plant are edible and used in culinary preparations. The dry seeds can be boiled and eaten with rice or they can replace rice in stews or soups. In Madagascar, they are ground to make nutritive flour included in the food for children. Unlike other pulses, rice beans are not easily processed into dhal, due to their fibrous mucilage that prevents hulling and separation of the cotyledons. Young pods, leaves and sprouted seeds are boiled and eaten as vegetables. Young pods are sometimes eaten raw. Rice bean is useful for livestock feeding. The vegetative parts can be fed fresh or made into hay and the seeds are used as fodder. The rice bean straw, the crop residue of the seed harvest, includes the stems, leafy portions, empty pods, and some seeds. Before feeding, the woody portions and soiled or mildewed parts of the straw should be removed. In the marginal hills of Indian, farmers consider rice bean both as a grain and fodder legume and look for dual-purpose landraces. Rice bean is grown for green manure, as a cover crop, and used as a living fence or biological barrier.