India’s rice fields rank among world’s top methane sources
A Nature Food study synthesis estimates that greenhouse-gas emissions from global paddy (rice) fields have more than doubled since the 1960s, with eastern India flagged as a methane hotspot.
- Flooded rice paddies become low-oxygen environments, which lets methane-producing microbes grow faster and raise methane emissions.
- CO2-equivalent (CO2e) converts different greenhouse gases into one comparable unit based on warming strength, so methane and carbon-dioxide can be added together.
- The rise in paddy greenhouse-gas emissions is linked partly to losses of soil or organic carbon, meaning carbon stored in soils can be released during cultivation.
- Farmers face adoption barriers such as labour shortages, limited technical knowledge, and changing rainfall patterns, which can affect the feasibility of switching practices.
What happened: paddy methane-linked emissions rise sharply since the 1960s
A Nature Food study synthesis estimates that greenhouse-gas emissions from paddy (rice) fields have more than doubled since the 1960s. For 2011–2020, global paddy fields are estimated to emit about 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually. The synthesis links the increase to carbon losses in soil or organic matter and to methane emissions driven by flooded, low-oxygen rice soils.
UPSC can frame paddy cultivation as a climate policy priority because flooded, low-oxygen rice soils support methane-producing microbes. The Nature Food synthesis provides emission-scale estimates and identifies farm-practice levers—irrigation style, residue handling, and nitrogen fertilizer use—that map to India’s climate-smart agriculture policies and state execution.
