Climate-Smart Rice farming can be part of the climate crisis solution when farmers are equipped with the right knowledge and tools to manage and conserve water application sustainably. But to understand just how much climate benefit this can deliver, Ghana needs reliable evidence and robust data from rice fields across the country. 

That is the focus of the next phase of UNDP Ghana’s Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) programme (AWD). Technical teams from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-SARI) in the northern zone, and the Soil Research Institute (CSIR-SRI) in the southern zone, are supporting field-based methane measurement and data collection to strengthen the evidence on emissions from rice fields under different water and soil management practices. 

Preparatory technical engagements brought together the research team and programme management team to review and agree on the approach and protocol for field measurements. The work will assess how changes in rice-field water management, particularly the application of AWD, affect methane emissions under different rice production conditions. 

Rice is commonly grown under continuous flooding in Ghana for fields under irrigation. While keeping fields flooded helps control weeds and supports rice production, the waterlogged conditions also create an environment where methane is produced and released into the atmosphere. AWD offers a different approach. Instead of keeping fields continuously flooded, farmers allow the water level to drop to a maximum of 15cm below the soil surface, monitored using a piezometer before re-irrigating. 

The programme’s field research will generate direct measurement of methane emission under AWD and continuously flooded rice production systems, providing evidence to assess differences in emissions under the respective water-management practices. 

The research will cover two agro-ecological zones. The first is the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone, the largest of Ghana's agro-ecological zones, located in the north-western part of the country, characterized by an annual rainfall of about 1,100 mm and a relatively long growing period, with the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme in the Northern Region selected as the study site. The second is the Coastal Savannah agro-ecological zone, located along Ghana's southern coast and characterized by lower annual rainfall of around 800 mm, and vegetation dominated by grassland and palm trees, with AgroKings at Tsopoli in the Greater Accra Region selected as the study site. 

Beyond water application, the study will look at how different farming practices interact for methane emissions. Farmers will be grouped according to practices such as incorporating rice straw into the soil, applying farmyard manure, or combining straw with manure. Continuous flooding will serve as the reference condition, against which AWD fields can be compared. 

Accounting for other farming practices is important because methane emissions are influenced by more than water alone. What farmers incorporate into the soil also affects the amount of methane produced. Establishing these differences will help the research team develop a more accurate picture of emissions for rice production in Ghana.