I don’t understand the assertion that the water needs to evaporate into the air and then get sucked out of the air by the rice. Dump a cup of rice into a pint of water. The rice slurps up the water that it touches, no air involved. It’s porous and if there’s water in its environment, in contact with it, the rice will drink it up. It works in salt shakers to keep the salt from clumping in humid climates.