Brimming with excitement, farmers plant low-emission rice

Earning carbon credit revenue from low-emission rice

The 2025 - 2026 winter-spring crop marks the third crop year that Nguyen Thi Thanh’s family at Loc Long Agricultural Production, Business and Service Cooperative (Loc Long Cooperative), Truong Ninh commune, Quang Tri province, has grown low-emission rice using the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method.

Thanh chooses to grow low-emission rice using this method because it requires less seed, fertilizer, and pesticides than traditional rice cultivation. The plants become sturdier and healthier, growing vigorously and yielding more. The overall production efficiency is considerably improved.

“Low-emission rice farming using alternate wetting and drying is not difficult, but this approach must be carried out in fields with active water control. Irrigation and drainage depend on the crop’s growth stages following a specific cycle. Not only does it significantly reduce irrigation water, but input costs are also lower than in traditional models, making it more profitable,” Thanh said.

As for the prospect of earning revenue from carbon credits from low-emission rice cultivation, she noted that not only her family but also all cooperative members feel optimistic. This farming approach, which delivers both economic and environmental benefits, has been adopted by 100% of the members of Loc Long Cooperative.

Nguyen Van Thom, Director of Loc Long Cooperative, said that members are enthusiastically adopting the model. While there were only 20 ha under the model in the 2024 - 2025 winter-spring crop, the total crop area has now expanded to 101 ha, accounting for 100% of the cooperative’s rice area.

“We have 50 ha of rice participating in the production linkage with guaranteed purchase, and organic production is the next aim. Low-emission rice farming reduces the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This creates favorable conditions for transitioning to organic rice production and increasing farmers’ profits,” he said.

According to Tran Van Hieu, Deputy Head of the Crop Production Division, Quang Tri Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a water management technique for lowland rice that uses significantly less water than the traditional continuous flooding technique. This results in stronger plant growth, sturdier stems, deeper and larger root systems, and fewer unproductive tillers. The method saves 20-50% of irrigation water, reduces labor, and lowers irrigation costs. Shortening the duration of flooded conditions also reduces methane (CH4) emissions by 40 - 60%.

From the Deputy Head’s point of view, there are several key points when applying AWD. At the panicle initiation stage, water should be maintained at 3-5 cm before allowing natural drying. When the water level drops below -15 cm, irrigation should resume. In case of heavy rain causing field flooding, water should be drained promptly. From panicle formation to flowering, fields should again be allowed to dry naturally. Water is reintroduced at flowering, and from the milky to dough stage, fields are drained in preparation for harvest.

Joining the government’s effort to achieve net-zero emissions

This is the third crop season in which low-emission rice cultivation using AWD has been implemented in Quang Tri province. Measurements and comparisons from more than 2,000 ha in 2025 show that farmers reduced irrigation frequency by 1.4 times; methane emissions decreased by 54.42%; yields increased by 4.6-8.6%; and seed and fertilizer use declined compared to continuous flooding. As a result, profits from low-emission rice are higher than from traditional methods. If regulations on carbon credit revenues from rice cultivation are approved, farmers could earn an additional VND 1,850,000 per ha.

Following the 2026 plan, Quang Tri will cultivate 10,000 ha of low-emission rice. In the current winter-spring crop alone, the model has been deployed in 13 communes, covering 6,000 ha. To date, the project has installed 180 water tubes across the province at a ratio of one tube per 35 ha to monitor irrigation regulation. Measurements are conducted every three days, starting 5 - 7 days after sowing until three days before harvest. Project staff use specialized geotagged, real-time software such as Timemark and GPS Location Camera to photograph water level tubes and upload images to the project’s Google Drive after each measurement.

Three emission monitoring sites have been set up, each with three gas chambers placed in project fields and three in control fields outside the project land. Gas sampling is conducted every seven days from 10 days after sowing until three days before harvest. After each sampling, project staff record and update growth indicators, water levels in tubes and bases, measurement timing, and temperature. Gas samples are sent to the Agriculture Science Institute of Northern Central Vietnam (ASINCV) for analysis.

Quang Tri aims to have more than 35,000 ha of low-emission crop production area by 2035, including 30,000 ha of rice and 5,000 ha of coffee, pepper, rubber, and other crops. This effort contributes to the Government’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, pledged at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).