How can we reduce emissions from rice? 

This article is brought to you by the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program.

Bạn đã ăn cơm chưa? Have you had rice today? 

In Viet Nam, rice is so essential that this question is a way of saying “good morning.”

Globally, rice provides crucial livelihoods for 144 million people and accounts for 20 percent of all calories consumed. Viet Nam is the world’s third-largest rice producer after India and Thailand. 

However, rice production emits a huge amount of greenhouse gases – specifically methane, a potent gas that’s over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

Why does rice produce high emissions?

Rice is an extremely water-intensive crop: around 40 percent of all global freshwater resources are used for rice cultivation. 

Part of the reason rice uses so much water – and emits so many greenhouse gases – is the common practice of perpetually flooding rice fields.

When fields are constantly flooded, the soil doesn’t have access to much oxygen, causing it to release methane gas. Rice production accounts for 16 percent of global methane emissions from agriculture. 

But there’s hope. Technologies to reduce emissions already exist, and irrigated paddy rice production offers more potential for mitigation than livestock and all croplands: emissions could be slashed by 36 percent by adopting methods like periodically draining paddies rather than constant flooding. 

Enter low-emissions rice.

FOLUR’s role in rice

This week, the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program hosted a Regional Dialogue in Hanoi, Viet Nam, titled “Realizing the Vision of Low-Emission Rice Across Landscapes.”

The FOLUR Impact Program is a USD 345 million, seven-year program that aims to improve the health and sustainability of landscapes that produce the world’s food. 

FOLUR is backed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the largest multilateral trust fund enabling developing countries to invest in nature, and led by the World Bank, the largest financier of agriculture and food in the Global South. 

This Regional Dialogue brought together the government of Viet Nam, the private sector, NGOs, FOLUR country representatives and many others to discuss the future of rice for the betterment of people and the planet. 

This conversation is particularly important in the context of the grave impacts of Typhoon Yagi, which wreaked havoc across Southeast Asia in early September, claiming hundreds of lives, devastating infrastructure and impacting an estimated 1 million hectares of rice. 

What are some challenges facing the rice industry?

As global temperatures and sea levels rise, areas near the sea are challenged with high salinity in their crops. Too much salt water in rice fields can hurt root growth and germination rates.

However, challenges in the rice industry also extend beyond the climate crisis and its impacts on production. 

The industry also needs to secure investments, create actionable green policies and train smallholder farmers in sustainable methods to reduce emissions and boost economies at local and national scales. 

Finding ways to better market and sell rice is also key to increasing incomes for rice farmers, who are among the poorest agricultural workers. In Viet Nam alone, countless farmers leave the industry every year in search of greater economic opportunities.

A key takeaway from the dialogue was the need to ensure that smallholder farmers benefit from the transition to low-emissions rice by being rewarded with increased incomes for producing higher-quality rice and making strides toward healthier soils and better water management.

What could low-emissions rice look like?

“In practice, low-emissions rice means change,” said Chris Brett, a program lead at FOLUR. “Change means using less water and less inputs on the rice, but also maintaining and building higher yields.”

“Sustainable rice needs to be built around reducing methane, using new rice varieties and utilizing new production systems,” Brett added.

Here are four methods to reduce rice emissions: 

1. Implementing alternate wetting and drying in rice paddies can reduce water usage and limit periods of higher methane release. On average, periodically draining rice fields can reduce methane emissions by 48 percent. 

2. When allowed to decompose slowly, rice straw – the husk of rice removed during harvest – can be repurposed in fields to improve soil health and help sequester carbon. 

3. Rice straw can also be turned into biochar, an organic crop residue, and mixed with soil as a natural fertilizer. This reduces the need for chemical pesticides, which reduces the cost of inputs to farmers. 

4. Directly seeding rice looks like growing rice directly from seeds planted in paddies rather than transplanting seedlings. This method allows farmers to save costs on seeds and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 84 percent. 

How can rice production be gender-inclusive?

Did you know that women play crucial but often unrecognized and unpaid roles in rice production? By increasing the resources they control, women can not only improve their livelihoods but also boost food and nutrition security.

There are several key components to addressing gender inequities. There is a need to provide women with training on leadership, digital literacy and using innovative farming technology, as well as access to financial tools such as loans.

Patricia Kristjanson, a senior gender specialist at the World Bank, talked about the potential for more women-based microfinance opportunities, as well as implementing village-wide saving funds and self-help groups. 

She also emphasized the need to move beyond just labor-saving technologies such as mechanical transplanters and toward collective action for women rice producers through their involvement in farmers groups and producer organizations.

To learn more about how to support women in agriculture, consider reading this FOLUR resource guide on gender equality. 

Viet Nam’s role in innovative rice value chains 

This year, Viet Nam is projected to produce over 40 million tons of rice to ensure national food security and enable high exports. 

Viet Nam leads by example in reducing emissions, increasing smallholder farmer incomes and helping farmers certify low-emissions rice.

In November 2023, the Vietnamese government passed the initiative “Sustainable development of one million hectares of high quality and low-emission rice together with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030.” 

This initiative aims at developing agriculture sustainably in the Mekong Delta, the largest rice-growing region in Viet Nam. As its name suggests, the country aims to significantly reduce emissions across 1 million hectares of rice and reduce fertilizer and pesticide use while also increasing rice value. 

Innovative rice farming is also happening in northern Viet Nam, particularly in Thái Bình province, where companies like Thai Binh Seed and community cooperatives are reducing emissions while boosting rice productivity.

With investments in over 1,500 transplanting machines to help with direct seed farming as well as implementing periodic paddy drainage to reduce water use and emissions, Thái Bình province has become a leader in low-emissions rice farming in Viet Nam. 

Many farmers in Thái Bình are planting traditional varieties of rice, and 96 percent of all rice grown in the province is short grain, meaning it is grown in a shorter period and therefore requires less water. 

Thai Binh Seed is working with local farmers and cooperatives to certify low-emissions rice and grow an internationally recognized brand of excellence.

By increasing the quality of their rice, they can achieve multiple goals, such as boosting nutritional quality, lowering glycemic content to combat issues like diabetes, and also allowing farmers and cooperatives to increase their incomes by selling products in international markets.

Knowledge sharing across countries and projects

FOLUR works across 27 countries, several of which were gathered in Hanoi this week, including representatives from both the GEF-7 FOLUR Program and the future GEF-8 Food Systems Program from China, Chad, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Viet Nam and other countries.

Partners are also supporting the global platform under FOLUR by providing key tools to implement and amplify the work of farmers around the globe. 

For instance, the Good Growth Partnership, a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), helps advise farmers on effective project design by working with multi-stakeholders. 

PILA, or the Participatory Informed Landscape Approach, is a geoportal that offers tools for landscape projects wanting to adopt integrated landscape management. 

The Sustainable Rice Platform offers performance indicators and a certification process for rice producers to show those who have achieved a 50 percent reduction in emissions. 

“Sustainability can look different for each farmer,” said Makiko Taguchi, an agricultural officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “We need to be thinking about solutions with a systemic perspective.” 

Looking ahead: Innovative solutions

One of the main takeaways from the FOLUR Regional Dialogue was that rice farming can vary significantly by country and region.

For example, in West Africa, much of rice cultivation is not irrigated, whereas the vast majority in Asia is. Participants suggested that some technologies can work better for irrigated rice systems, while solutions in Africa may be different and potentially more challenging.

Each country must tailor resources, training and financial mechanisms to their unique contexts. However, there were several overarching themes of alignment: 

First, it’s essential to create more financial opportunities for smallholder farmers by linking the public and private sectors. 

Monitoring and verifying rice systems and product quality can also greatly help increase the value and marketability of rice. 

It’s also necessary to develop training and resources that respond to gender issues and strengthen the position of women in farming.

And lastly, smallholder farmers must be rewarded for adopting sustainable practices to ensure that they are at the heart of this transition.

Agriculture contributes around one-third of all global emissions, but only four percent of global climate finance is funneled to agrifood systems. 

That means it’s critical to assess how we produce food that is climate-resilient and promotes equitable and fair compensation for all. Change is essential to end hunger and create a healthier planet. 

Because rice is more than a staple crop. Rice is nutrition, livelihood, community. 

Rice is life.