Methane Reduction in Irrigated Rice Production, Thailand

Thailand is one of the largest exporters of Rice. Rice production in Central Thailand is highly intensified and has well-developed irrigation systems. The Standard Practice is to keep the rice fields constantly flooded which results in prevalence of anaerobic soil bacteria. These produce Methane which is a greenhouse gas which makes rice cultivation into one of the factors with the highest short term potential to influence global heating.If the rice fields are not flooded constantly and the surface of the fields are allowed to fall dry from time to time, the emittance of Greenhouse Gases, especially Methane will be reduced considerably. The core focus of the project is to reduce the production of Greenhouse Gases and this will be achieved by introducing the so called Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Practice on a large scale and verifying the application of AWD. The emission reductions will be calculated with default values of CMD Method AMS-III.AU (option 2).