LocationsHow Rice Farmers in Northern Ghana are Using a Smarter Water Irrigation Technique in Support of Climate Action
Making Every Drop Count
September 9, 2026
Standing in his field is a young farmer proudly holding the next harvest - fresh rice seedlings ready for transplanting. This is climate-smart agriculture in action.
Photos @Ernestina Ocansey / UNDP Ghana
Rice is one of Ghana’s most important food crops, supporting the livelihoods of farmers and contributing to the country’s food supply. For years, rice farmers under the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme in Ghana’s Northern Region have relied on a familiar rice farming routine: continuously keeping their fields flooded for their crop cultivation. But with increasing pressure on water resources including drier climate conditions, farmers are learning that keeping rice fields constantly flooded is not the most sustainable approach to raking in a good harvest.
With support from UNDP, rice farmers adopting the Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) technique, are changing when and how they use water, allowing their fields to dry at intervals before irrigating again. The practice reduces water use while maintaining conditions needed for rice production, making every drop count.
For Mohammed Al Hassan Issahaku, the change is already making a difference.
A rice farmer since 1985, Mohammed farms three acres in Bontanga, in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. His fields are among the last to receive water when water channels are opened for flow by the public irrigation scheme, making timely access a persistent challenge.
“I am at the tail end of the irrigation scheme, so when water is released, it first reaches the farmers closer to the dam. Sometimes I had to stay overnight on my farm waiting for the water to reach my fields. If the crop does not get water at the right time, the yield can go down, and when production goes down, my income also goes down,” he said.
For years, he responded by over-flooding his fields whenever water was available. Like many rice farmers, he believed rice needed to remain in water.
That changed when UNDP, with support from the Governments of Ghana and Switzerland brought the AWD approach to the community. Through hands-on training and technical guidance provided by the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) and the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), he learned how to apply the technique and began to see its benefits firsthand.
The AWD practice
AWD gives farmers an effective, time and cost-saving, approach to irrigation. Rather than continuously flooding the field, farmers allow the water level to drop to specified levels before irrigating again when the crop needs it.
To know when their crops need water, farmers turn to a piezometer. Positioned in the field, the perforated tube allows them to track water levels up to 15cm below topsoil level and irrigate only when necessary.
“Initially, I used to put a lot of water on the farm because I believed rice needed plenty of water. Sometimes the water would even go over the bunds. Now, with the piezometer, I have a guide that tells me when the water level has gone down and it is time to irrigate again. So, I am able to manage the amount of water I use much better”
He also learnt that allowing the soil to dry for specified periods does not mean depriving the rice of what it needs.
“Sometimes the rice needs air. When we allow the water to go down and then irrigate again at the right time, the soil gets the air it needs and the rice can continue growing well,” added Mohammed.
Mohammed has now dedicated all three of his plots to AWD and is helping other farmers understand the practice better. As a lead and demonstration farmer, he works with project teams to demonstrate AWD and explain the approach in the local language.
“I have been farming rice for many years, so when I understood how AWD works, I felt I could help other farmers understand it too. When the team comes and needs someone to demonstrate or explain the practice in our local language, I am always ready to help because I see myself as part of the work,” he noted.
A harvest of her own
For 31-year-old Musah Sherifa, a female rice farmer, the AWD training built on an opportunity she had already secured: access to land. As one of the few women farmers in her community cultivating her own rice field at Bontanga, she was well positioned to apply the new techniques introduced through the project. With access to both productive land and improved farming knowledge, Sherifa is now farming more efficiently and improving the returns from her harvests.
“Before I started using AWD, I was harvesting about 10 bags of rice. After adopting the practice, my harvest has increased to about 25 bags. For me, this has made a big difference because I am able to produce more from the farm and have more rice that I can sell to support my home,” she says.
The increase has given Sherifa a different perspective on what is possible from her farm. More rice means more produce available for sale and greater potential income from the land she now has access to.
Her experience is one farmer’s account and does not, by itself, establish that AWD caused the entire increase in production. But it illustrates why farmers are interested in practices that can help them manage their resources more efficiently.
A climate benefit in the rice field
The benefits of AWD extend beyond water management. Rice fields that remain continuously flooded create conditions that emit methane, one of the most potent gases that contribute to climate change. Allowing rice fields to dry at intervals reduces methane production and its associated emissions into the atmosphere. But understanding how much emissions can be avoided per ha across the various soil types in Ghana, requires evidence from implementing farms.
The project is therefore undertaking field measurements and gathering data on methane emissions under different rice water-management and soil-management practices, including AWD and continuous flooding. The research covers the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone, including the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme in the Northern Region, and the Coastal Savannah agro-ecological zone, with AgroKings at Tsopoli in the Greater Accra Region serving as the southern study site. The work will strengthen Ghana-specific evidence on methane emissions from rice production and support improved understanding of the mitigation potential of AWD under different production conditions.
This is important for Ghana’s wider climate action because reliable local data can help the country better understand and account for emissions from rice cultivation. The evidence also supports the project’s monitoring, reporting and verification processes and the quantification of mitigation outcomes under the Article 6.2 cooperation framework.
Building a model farmers can use
The work at Bontanga is part of Ghana’s broader efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture while improving the efficiency of water use in rice production. The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority is working with farmers on irrigation management and the adoption of AWD, while CSIR-SARI provides research and technical support in the northern zone as part of the project’s wider scientific and technical arrangements.
UNDP is supporting the climate-smart rice initiative under the bilateral Article 6.2 cooperation between Ghana and Switzerland, through which the project seeks to reduce methane emissions from irrigated rice cultivation while contributing to sustainable development benefits for participating farmers and communities.
Experiences like those from Sherifa and Muhammad point to what more efficient rice production could look like across Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa: farmers using better information to irrigate at the right time, conserve water and, potentially, contribute to reducing emissions.
Beyond its contribution to climate action under SDG 13, the project also has links to more efficient water use, sustainable agricultural production, gender inclusion and international partnerships for sustainable development.
