Vietnamese Rice Farming Methane Reduction

Farmers in Vietnam are adopting innovative techniques to reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice.

Irrigation method: They are using a different method of irrigation known as alternate wetting and drying, or AWD. This requires less water than traditional farming since his paddy fields aren’t continuously submerged. They also produce less methane.
Drone: Using the drone to fertilise the crops saves on labor costs.
Effective usage of stubble: Rice stubble is no longer burnt (cause of air pollution) but used as livestock feed and for growing straw mushroom.

Rice’s contribution to climate change

Rice crop is not just vulnerable to climate change but also contributes uniquely to it.
High usage of labour and water: Rice must be grown separately from other crops and seedlings have to be individually planted in flooded fields; backbreaking, dirty work requiring a lot of labor and water that generates a lot of methane.
Inundated fields stop oxygen from entering the soil, creating the conditions for methane-producing bacteria.
Rice paddies contribute 8% of all human-made methane in the atmosphere.

Fact Box

Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and the staple is palpable in the Mekong Delta.
The Mekong Delta, where 90% of Vietnam's exported rice is farmed, is one of the world's regions most vulnerable to climate change.
Methane is a potent planet-warming gas that can trap more than 80-times more heat in the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide.