Focus Countries
VIETNAM (Southeast Asia)
Rice is a dominant and important crop for Vietnam, but traditional paddy rice production emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) which accounts for 50% of the country’s agriculture emissions and 15% of its total greenhouse gas emissions. Vietnam has committed to cutting 6-32% of its GHG emissions from agriculture by 2030 as one of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets.
The Vietnamese government is making efforts to move to low-carbon rice production as part of its NDC. IRRI has been working with multiple partners including the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to help Vietnam develop win-win cases for agriculture development to realize Vietnam's climate targets. IRRI has been focusing on outscaling alternate wetting and drying irrigation (AWD) - the most potential low-emission technology in rice in Vietnam, and is now exploring more advanced mitigation programs. We work closely with national partners to provide scientific evidence and digital tools to contribute to transforming the rice sector and developing sustainable value chains and food systems in Vietnam.
Thailand (Southeast Asia)
Thailand is the 4th largest emitter of rice-related GHGs globally – mainly methane. The Thai Rice Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) project has been implemented since August 2018 to enable a shift towards low-emission rice production in Thailand. It targets 100,000 farm households and 420 agricultural mitigation service businesses in six selected provinces of the Central Plains. The project is implemented by Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
Under the Thai Rice NAMA project, IRRI contributes to the calculation and verification of the prospected emission reduction in the field and advice on field implementation of the mitigation technologies in rice cultivation.
Bangladesh (South Asia)
Activities in Bangladesh had a strong focus on bringing together various stakeholders to create awareness of the project and support from national partners. Under the facilitation of the country coordinator Prof. Saidur Rahman from the Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU), stakeholders also identified country-specific opportunities for large-scale implementation of AWD+ and ways for the Paddy Rice Component to make use of these opportunities.
The CCAC Paddy Rice Component built strong partnerships with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), the Department for Agricultural Extension (DAE), and the Rural Development Academy (RDA). Under the lead of IRRI, the team proposed promising work areas for 2016-2018 including engaging with the World Bank program “NATP-2” and developing options for incentivizing water pricing schemes.