Boost Soil Organic Carbon: Kerala and IRRI Partner to Slash Methane Emissions
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has partnered with the Government of Kerala to implement the KERA-AWD Low-Emission Rice Project. This climate-smart farming initiative is being deployed across 22,000 hectares of agricultural land in Kerala’s prominent rice-growing hubs of Thrissur and Palakkad. By combining organic matter management with Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) irrigation, the project aims to reduce global warming potential by cutting field methane emissions by up to half. The framework effectively builds soil organic carbon while lowering overall water consumption by roughly 30% without penalizing crop yields.
Saving Soil Carbon: Fighting Methane in India’s Rice Fields
A comprehensive field assessment published by The Hindu revealed that low-oxygen, flooded conditions in eastern India’s traditional rice paddies stimulate methane-producing microbes to aggressively break down Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) into potent greenhouse gases. To combat this, researchers are piloting sustainable low-emission agricultural packages. The new frameworks experiment with customized soil microbe blends, aligned hydrology systems, and replacing traditional acidic lime with phosphogypsum to safeguard subsoil surfaces.