<
https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-rice-methane-climate-mekong-e82d9101bcd440751a9d0db060b10c0f>
"LONG AN, Vietnam (AP) — There is one thing that distinguishes 60-year-old Vo
Van Van’s rice fields from a mosaic of thousands of other emerald fields across
Long An province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta: It isn’t entirely flooded.
That and the giant drone, its wingspan similar to that of an eagle, chuffing
high above as it rains organic fertilizer onto the knee-high rice seedlings
billowing below.
Using less water and using a drone to fertilize are new techniques that Van is
trying and Vietnam hopes will help solve a paradox at the heart of growing
rice: The finicky crop isn’t just vulnerable to climate change but also
contributes uniquely to it.
Rice must be grown separately from other crops and seedlings have to be
individually planted in flooded fields; backbreaking, dirty work requiring a
lot of labor and water that generates a lot of methane, a potent planet-warming
gas that can trap more than 80-times more heat in the atmosphere in the short
term than carbon dioxide.
It’s a problem unique to growing rice, as inundated fields stop oxygen from
entering the soil, creating the conditions for methane-producing bacteria. Rice
paddies contribute 8% of all human-made methane in the atmosphere, according to
a 2023 Food and Agriculture Organization report."
Via
What Could Go Right? Exiting the Grexit Era:
https://theprogressnetwork.org/greece-economy-2024/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
