Methane Avoidance in Rice Fields
A critical project that not only reduces emissions from rice production but helps ensure our future supply.
Continuous Irrigation
Continuous irrigation is the flooding of the rice field throughout the growing season, subjecting it to anaerobic conditions. This creates an ideal environment for bacteria underground to convert the organic matter into methane. Studies suggest each hectare under continuous flooding emits nearly 6.5 tons of tCO₂e emissions. There are over 160 million hectares of land used for rice cultivation worldwide and nearly 60% of it is irrigated using continuous flooding. This converts to nearly 650 million tCO₂e emissions annually. Some reports suggest that rice cultivation is the biggest anthropogenic methane emitter responsible for over 20% of the total.
What is AWD?
Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is is a water management technique, a practice to cultivate irrigated rice fields with much less water than traditional continuous flooding method. It is an irrigation method where the field is flooded only after the water level falls below a specific depth. This ensures the crop gets the water required yet saves the amount of water used, ultimately reducing the number of days the field is subjected to anaerobic conditions and thereby reducing methane emissions.
AWD has the potential to reduce the water used by 30% and methane emissions by nearly 50%. This would convert to a 325 million tCO₂e emission reduction annually or nearly 1% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions.
Our little contribution? We are currently working on a project that is helping farmers in India who are cultivating rice on over a million hectares to adopt the AWD method in their fields.
Technology
Alternate Drying and Wetting
Life of the AWD pipes
7 Years
Reduction in CO2e emission annually per hectare
3 tCO2e
CarbonWatch's Targeted Project Size
1,000,000 hectares
Expected emission reduction from our programme (10-year Period)
17,500,000 tCO2e
Climate change presents a dual challenge and opportunity: as the Global South seeks to leapfrog into sustainable technologies that can improve lives and foster growth, it is crucial that the developed world pays its dues for the carbon it has emitted. This responsibility creates the financial and technological pathways for a just transition, empowering emerging economies to chart a more resilient and equitable future.
Deepak Mawandia
Founder (ICAM)
Benefits
Carbon
Avoidance
Emissions from each hectare are expected to fall by nearly 3 tons of CO₂e annually. This converts to nearly 17.5 million tCO₂e emissions being avoided directly through our project.
Economic
Benefits
Pumping and draining the rice fields requires labor which creates jobs. Above that, AWD also helps promote the vitality of the soil which directly impacts the farms earning potential.
Health
Benefits
Continuously flooded fields lead to stagnation of the water. Stagnant water promotes mosquito breeding which can lead to an outbreak of malaria, dengue, etc. AWD significantly reduces the chances of this outbreak, enhancing lives.
Benefits
Carbon Avoidance
We expect each tree to sequester nearly 200 kilograms of CO₂e annually. This converts to 55 tCO₂e per hectare and nearly 75 million tCO₂e emissions being sequestered directly through our project.
Economic Benefits
Pumping and draining the rice fields requires labor which creates jobs. Above that, AWD also helps promote the vitality of the soil which directly impacts the farms earning potential.
Health Benefits
By including socially marginalized communities, our project aims to equip them with skill sets, enabling them to take up jobs and reducing inequalities.
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