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Rice is a staple food for nearly half of the world's population. However, with the ongoing climate change, there has been a growing concern about the impact of changing weather patterns on rice production worldwide.
Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the impact of climate change on rice production across Asia, and they have predicted a decline in productivity that could ultimately lead to food insecurity in many developing nations.
For instance, experts have observed that the deleterious effects of climate change on rice productivity in Asia will be significant, and agricultural land is one of the key players in the hydrological cycle.
To predict the stability of rice supply and market price in Asia under climate change, scientists used a supply and demand model to develop yield, acreage, and price projections.
Additionally, drought-induced crop losses and their economic impact are expected to increase with global climate change. Moreover, studies have identified high temperatures as the leading cause of rice crop yield losses in many regions worldwide. While studies evaluating climate change impacts on rice production are common, there have been few evaluations exploring the effects of climate change on the rice market.
Can we grow better without any damage to climate change?
The first thing to understand is that rice is not like other crops. It was domesticated on three separate continents.
Rice is also a wage commodity for workers in the cash crop or non-agricultural sectors.
Rice is vital for the nutrition of much of the population in Asia, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Africa; it is central to the food security of over half the world that population.
A World Bank – FAO study claims 8% to 26% of rice is lost in developing nations, on average, every year, because of post-harvest problems and poor infrastructure. Some sources claim the post-harvest losses exceed 40%. Not only do these losses reduce food security in the world, but the study claims also that farmers in developing countries such as China, India, and others lose approximately US$89 billion of income in preventable post-harvest farm losses, poor transport, and the lack of proper storage and retail. One study claims that if these post-harvest grain losses could be eliminated with better infrastructure and retail network, in India alone enough food would be saved every year to feed 70 to 100 million people.
Around the world, most rice farmers maintained a common technique and practiced growing the grain in wet soils than dry soils, and through the technique, flooding is done and the farmers observed that the weeds in the field died, however, the rice survived. Making this is the reason, farmers keep fields flooded for months at a time it is seen even today.
What makes rice one of the dirtiest crops we grow?
When micro-organisms such as bacteria, break down the residue of the plant wastes (leaf, roots, and other) and they tend to release carbon dioxide, but in a flooded field where air can’t get in there’s less oxygen to react with the carbon in the organic waste. This encourages the tendency and efficiency of growth rate in bacteria that make a gas called Methane, Methane is a chemical compound that consists of a carbon atom which is bound to four hydrogen atoms.
The gas is a major constituent of oxygen-free mud and water, marshes, the rumen of cattle and other animals, and the intestinal tract of mammals.
In oxygen-free (anaerobic) environments, methane can be produced by a type of bacteria known as methanogenic bacteria.
Methane can also be used as an energy source by other bacteria that grow in the presence of oxygen (aerobic bacteria), which breaks down the compound into Carbon dioxide and water. These bacteria are known as methane-oxidizing bacteria.
Methane doesn’t stay as long in the air as CO2, but it raises the temperature of the planet 80 times more over a 20-year period.
What was the solution to draining a field, so the bacteria don’t make more methane?
Across Asia, farmers have drained their paddy fields in the mid of the growing season to maintain water sustainability. Using a method called alternatively wetting and drying the paddy field.
The rice has enough water at its roots, however by just reducing the amount of water that’s sitting around, that reduces the amount of methane that is produced in the fields.
1. Changing of habit and economic policies.
The farmers pay for the land not the amount of water they use, as it is seen as less benefit.
2. Utilization of Nitrogen in the field.
The method of wetting and drying of the field creates cracks in the soil, and leads the oxygen, which later reacts with nitrogen to combine into nitrous oxide. Minimizing fertilizer usage can help to reduce this problem.
3. Low yields resulted when the soil is dry.
A technique like the “System of rice intensification” is a farming methodology that aims to increase the yield of rice while using fewer resources and reducing environmental impacts. SRI has demonstrated that it has a significant impact on the productivity of rice, its cost to farmers, and the environmental footprint of rice farming. Due to environmental, economic, and other factors, the exact impacts of SRI can vary from country to country.
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BY
Akhil Srinivas K H.
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