Flooded conditions are favorable for methane (CH4) production in the soil. Continuous flooding (CF) during growth period produces the highest CH4 emissions, compared to multiple opportunities for drainage, mid-season drainage, intermittent irrigation, early-season drainage, or alternate wetting and drying (AWD), yet shown the opposite in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The AWD technology can be considered in increasing rice production, saving water resources and increasing farmers’ resilience in facing climate change. The combination of AWD with soil amendments such as biochar and compost in water-saving irrigation may be effective to ensure the yield increase and climate change mitigation. AWD and other water-saving technologies can be incorporated in sustainable rice production such as climate smart agriculture (CSA). The implementation of CSA technology on a wider scale in Indonesia was carried out in the field demonstration in 2021-2023 with covered the total area of 88,000 ha. The emission reduction in CSA demonstration plots averaged 40% and it increase the grain yield averaged 12.5% compared to farmer practices. This showed that the application of AWD in rice cultivation has the potential to be scaled up and support carbon trading in the future. Good coordination between stakeholders can help achieve maximum benefits from AWD. The role of agriculture extension and water user farmer groups greatly supports changing the way of irrigating continuously flooded rice fields using the AWD method. Technological support is also needed to design an internet of things (IoT)-based irrigation control system on rice fields using the AWD method practically by farmers. Thus, implementing national policies that promote AWD practice in CSA technology has emerged as an effective mitigation strategy for reducing emissions in rice cultivation while concurrently strengthening national food security.
Keywords: rice fields, methane, mitigation, alternate wetting and drying
Flooded conditions are favorable for methane (CH4) production in the soil. Continuous flooding (CF) during growth period produces the highest CH4 emissions, compared to multiple opportunities for drainage, mid-season drainage, intermittent irrigation, early-season drainage, or alternate wetting and drying (AWD), yet shown the opposite in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The AWD technology can be considered in increasing rice production, saving water resources and increasing farmers’ resilience in facing climate change. The combination of AWD with soil amendments such as biochar and compost in water-saving irrigation may be effective to ensure the yield increase and climate change mitigation. AWD and other water-saving technologies can be incorporated in sustainable rice production such as climate smart agriculture (CSA). The implementation of CSA technology on a wider scale in Indonesia was carried out in the field demonstration in 2021-2023 with covered the total area of 88,000 ha. The emission reduction in CSA demonstration plots averaged 40% and it increase the grain yield averaged 12.5% compared to farmer practices. This showed that the application of AWD in rice cultivation has the potential to be scaled up and support carbon trading in the future. Good coordination between stakeholders can help achieve maximum benefits from AWD. The role of agriculture extension and water user farmer groups greatly supports changing the way of irrigating continuously flooded rice fields using the AWD method. Technological support is also needed to design an internet of things (IoT)-based irrigation control system on rice fields using the AWD method practically by farmers. Thus, implementing national policies that promote AWD practice in CSA technology has emerged as an effective mitigation strategy for reducing emissions in rice cultivation while concurrently strengthening national food security.
Keywords: rice fields, methane, mitigation, alternate wetting and drying