The invention provides a manual rice cutter. The manual rice cutter comprises a movable claw, a cutting knife, a locking nut, a movable pull rod, a telescopic rod, a guide block, a connection plate, handles, a supporting rod, a fixed claw, a claw frame and a spring. When the manual rice cutter is used for harvesting rice, the handles at the two sides are grasped respectively by double hands and the position of the cutter is adjusted, so that rice seedling straws are located between the movable claw and the fixed claw; the two handles are pulled to move to the opposite directions, namely the movable claw, the fixed claw and the cutting knife are driven to move, and the rice seedling straws are clamped and cut or are loosened; the spring is arranged in the telescopic rod, so that the clamping degree of rice is at a suitable state. The manual rice cutter is ingenious in structural design; compared with a traditional rice cutter, the rice does not need to be cut by bowing, so that certain labor intensity can be alleviated; the manual rice cutter is an economical and practical manual rice cutter.