Incentivizing Rice Farming Communities to Transition to Low-Emissions Agriculture in India

The project enables rice growing farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to transition from conventional continuously flooded rice cultivation to Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD). The core purpose is to reduce methane emissions from paddy fields while improving water efficiency, strengthening climate resilience, and increasing farmer livelihoods through a single scalable intervention. In the first instance the project is implemented in the Srikakulam and vizinagaram villages of Andhra Pradesh in 5,041 ha of land which reduces 6,710 tCO2e/year. Detail climate change mitigation/adaptation contributions Mitigation: The project delivers climate mitigation benefits by reducing methane generation in paddy fields. AWD shortens the duration of continuous flooding, allowing aerobic soil conditions to form, which: Significantly reduces methane emissions, the dominant emission source in irrigated paddy Lowers energy-related emissions due to reduced irrigation pumping demand Prevents soil carbon loss caused by over-flooding and anaerobic conditions The transition is expected to generate substantial emission reductions across al