Strategic rice cultivation with energy crop rotation in Southeast Asia

Strategic Rice Cultivation for Sustainable
Low Carbon Society Development
in South East Asia
Dr Sebastien Bonnet
The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment
Capacity Building Workshop on:
“Strategic rice cultivation with energy crop rotation in Southeast Asia –
A path toward climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector”
29-31 May 2013, Pullman King Power Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research - APN
• APN: The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research
• APN is a network of 22 member countries promoting global change research
in the region and strengthening interactions between scientists and policymakers
• The APN funds its research programmes based on an annual open call for
proposals under its regional research and capacity development
programmes (ARCP and CAPaBLE).
• ARCP: Asia Pacific Network - Annual Regional Call for Research Proposals
• ARCP is one of the scientific pillars of the APN to encourage and promote
global change research in the Asia-Pacific region, establishing a sound
scientific basis for policy-making.

APN-ARCP project led by JGSEE
• Project title: Strategic Rice Cultivation for Sustainable Low Carbon Society
Development in South East Asia
• Project duration: 2 years
• Budget: 40,000 USD per year
• Organizations involved:
– The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE), Thailand
Lead organization (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sirintornthep Towprayoon)
– The National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), Japan
– Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia

Project objectives
• The overall goal of the project is to identify strategic rice cultivation practices
enabling SEA to develop towards a sustainable low carbon society while
enhancing the adaptive capacity in the agriculture sector
• The specific objectives are:
– To develop long-term field studies to measure, monitor and evaluate
the impacts of various cultivation practices on climate change and
identify potential adaptive measures and mitigation options
– To identify strategic rice cultivation practices, in rotation with selected
energy crops, enabling to fully utilize the rice plantation fallow period
and therefore to optimize rice and energy feedstock production
– To enhance regional capacity of scientists and policy makers in SEA for
sustainable low carbon development of their society

Activity I: Review of rice
cultivation practices and use of
energy crops for rotation in SEA
Activity II: Long-term monitoring
of GHG emissions and soil carbon
dynamics from rice cultivation
and utilization energy crops for
rotation
Activity V: Knowledge
dissemination to scientists and
policy-makers in SEA
Project
activities
Activity III: Capacity assessment of
GHG emissions and carbon stock
from sustainable cultivation
practices in SEA
Activity IV: Long-term soil carbon
dynamics assessment of
sustainable low carbon cultivation
using process model

Activity I: Review of rice cultivation practices and use of energy
crops for rotation in SEA
Description of Tasks
– Review of information on
current rice cultivation
practices in SEA and state-ofthe-art
of regional traditional
practices as well as potential
for introducing selected
energy crops to be cultivated
in rotation with rice.
– Involvement of SEA experts in
the agricultural sector to
contribute information to the
review study as part of an
expert meeting organised in
Thailand by JGSEE
Deliverables
— Report on the state-of-the-art
of rice cultivation practices and
use of energy crops as the
potential rotation crops for SEA
countries.
— Database of rice cultivation
practices in SEA
— Identification of country
specific rice cultivation
practices and potentials for
energy crop cultivation in SEA
countries
— Background data for
preparation of Activity II and III

Activity I: Review of rice cultivation practices and use of energy
crops for rotation in SEA
• Literature survey to assess current practices of rice cultivation in SEA including
land management.
• Review supported with a questionnaire survey (in Thailand and Indonesia) to
collect information from farmers regarding their agricultural practices and
assessing potentials for rotation with selected energy crops, i.e. maize and
sorghum.
• Expert meeting organized by JGSEE in June 2011 gathering selected experts from
SEA countries including: Indonesia, Japan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam
and Thailand to help evaluating and confirming the results from the literature
review.
• Production of a Report on: “State-of-the-art of rice cultivation practices in SEA and
rotation with energy crops”.
• Presentation on “Rice Cultivation and Potential Areas for Rotation with Energy
Crops in South-east Asia” at the 17 th Inter-Governmental Meeting (IGM) and
Scientific Planning Group (SPG) Meeting in Jakarta (Indonesia), on 14 March 2012.

Expert Meeting on
“State-of-the-Art of Rice Cultivation Practices in South-East Asia”
2-3 June 2011
JGSEE, Bangkok, Thailand
Under APN-ARCP Funded Project on:
Rice Cultivation for Sustainable Low Carbon Society Development in South-East Asia
Organized by
The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE)
Participants
Thailand
Card technique
Japan
Cambodia
Indonesia
Myanmar

Activity I: Report on “State-of-the-art of rice cultivation practices
for selected countries in SEA and rotation with energy crops”
• The report provides background information on statistics of rice cultivation in
selected SEA countries including harvested area, production, yield, trade as
well as rice varieties and ecosystems
• The report also provides country specific information for : Cambodia,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
• The information reviewed and reported includes:
– Rice variety
– Agro-cosystem
– Land preparation
– Rice plantation and cultivation practices (water, fertiliser, pesticide, etc.)
– Harvesting method
– Management of rice residues
– Rotation crops
– Soil organic carbon
– Socio-economic status of farmers

Activity I: Overview on rice production
• Rice is grown in more than 100 countries
• Global rice plantation covering 12.5% of total crop plantation area
• The global rice area harvested at present represents more than 150 Mha,
but the amount of land used for rice is less, in the order of about 125 million
hectares, because in some fields farmers plant two, or even three, rice crops
each year,
• Annual production is nearing 630 Mt of rough (unmilled) rice 95 kg for
each person on Earth

Activity I: Overview on rice production
• Rice is most closely associated with South, Southeast, and East Asia,
where 90% of the world's rice is produced.
• Almost half of the global rice area is in India and China, the 2 largest world
producer of rice
• The eight countries with the largest area of rice are all in South and
Southeast Asia (80%), including:
• India,
• China,
• Indonesia,
• Bangladesh,
• Thailand,
• Vietnam,
• Myanmar, and
• the Philippines
30 % of the global rice area is found in SEA

Overview harvested area of rice in SEA

Activity I: Rice agro-ecosystems
There are primarily four agro-ecosystems where rice is grown:
• Irrigated rice (80 Mha, 75% global rice production, typically found in
China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Korea)
• Rainfed lowlands (60 Mha (46Mha in Asia), 20% global rice production,
typically found in eastern India and SEA)
• Upland rice (14Mha, 4% global rice production, typically found in
Indonesia, the Philippines and Southwest China)
• Flood‐prone ecosystem (11Mha, 1% global rice production, typically
found in Bangladesh, the Irrawaddy of Myanmar, the Mekong region of
Vietnam and Cambodia, and the Chao Phraya basin of Thailand)

Activity I: Main features of rice production in SEA
• Cultivation practices of rice in SEA do not differ much.
• Climate is a factor that classifies rice cultivation into wet and dry season, and
each country in SEA refers to wet and dry season in a different way, e.g.
• Wet season of rice (WS) and dry season of rice (DS) in Cambodia;
• Monsoon rice and summer rice in Myanmar; and
• Major rice and second rice in Thailand.
• There are 2 main planting methods used for rice,
• Broadcasting - large scale production, not labor intensive
• Transplanting - traditional method, labour intensive, found mainly in NE
of Thailand, small farms in Cambodia, most areas in Lao PDR, 80% of rice
farms in Myanmar, and traditional farms in Vietnam).

Activity I: Main features of rice production in SEA
• Chemical fertilizers are applied in paddy fields in most SEA countries,
especially for rice cultivated via modern methods. For traditional farming in
mountainous areas, organic fertilizers are still mainly applied.
• The harvesting of rice can be performed either manually (using sickles) or by
machine. In SEA, harvesting machines are mainly used in lowland areas
(dominant in ASEAN) easy of access.
• Rotation crops are planted mostly in non-irrigated paddy fields during the
fallow period and with enough water for cultivation. The rotation crops are
legumes, fruits, and vegetable.

Activity II: Long-term monitoring of GHG emissions and soil carbon
dynamics from rice cultivation and rotation with selected energy crops
Description of Tasks
— Assessment of GHG emissions
and soil carbon dynamics
associated to rice cultivation and
rotation with selected energy
crops (corn and sorghum) during
fallow period at KMUTT -
Ratchaburi campus experimental
site (Thailand)
— Continuous monitoring of trace
gas emissions, soil carbon stock,
biological and physical
parameters associated to aboveground
and below-ground
biomass
Deliverables
— long-term monitoring data on
GHG emissions and soil carbon
dynamics associated to rice
cultivation and rotation with
corn and sorghum.
— Comparative evaluation of
specific crop rotation practices
in terms of carbon cycle,
economics, social benefits,
potential barriers, etc.
— Identification of potentially
sustainable rice-energy crop
cultivation practices under welldefined
conditions

Activity II: Field experiments in Ratchaburi
Year 2010 2011
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
RF Fallow land Rainfed Rice Fallow land Rainfed Rice
RR Irrigated Rice Rainfed Rice Irrigated Rice Rainfed Rice
RC Corn Rainfed Rice Corn Rainfed Rice
RS Sweet sorghum Rainfed Rice Sweet sorghum Rainfed Rice
RS
RF
RS
RF
RR
RR
RR
RR
RF
RC
Rotation
RF
RC
RC
RS
RC
RS
energy crop rainfed rice
(February-June)
(August-December)

Activity II: GHG emissions monitoring

SCB (g C m -2 )
Activity II: Soil carbon budget
C balance
700
600
500
415.11 150.37 542.28 -68.723
RC RF RR RS
4th crop
3rd crop
400
300
200
100
0
-100
-200
-300
RC RF RR RS
2nd crop
1st crop
Remark: RC is corn-rice-corn-rice cropping system. RF is fallow-rice-fallow-rice cropping system. RR is rice-rice-rice-rice
cropping system. RS is sorghum-rice-sorghum-rice cropping system
- Manure incorporation for the1 st and 2 nd crop was the main contributor to carbon
input into the soil.
- Crop residue incorporation for the 3 rd and 4 th crop was the main contributor to
carbon input into the soil.
- In case of rotation with energy crop, corn provided the highest benefit in terms of
soil carbon budget for the 4 th crop (second year of cultivation).

Activity II: Comparative evaluation of specific crop rotation
practices
Carbon cycle:
The cultivation system of corn rotation with rainfed rice enabled to achieve the
highest soil carbon sequestration benefit (after 4 th crop harvesting). This is due
mainly to the organic matter added to the soil in the form of manure and crop
residue re-incorporation.
Some socio-economic benefits:
Double cropping systems (rice-rice or rice with another crop) enable to enhance
farmers’ income as compared to single crop. Income to farmers for the cropping
systems investigated in this research were estimated, as follows:
• For rice-rice cropping systems: 21,469-50,226 THB/ha/year
• For corn-rice rotation systems: 22,749-51,017 THB/ha/year
• For sweet sorghum-rice rotation systems: 18,029-58,581 THB/ha/year
Crop rotation systems not only contribute to provide more income to farmers but
also job opportunity in the agricultural sector.

Activity III: Capacity assessment of GHG emissions and soil carbon
stock from sustainable cultivation practices in SEA
Description of Tasks
— Assessment of the capacity of C
budget in terms of emissions
and soil carbon stock of rice
fields in SEA using ALU software
— Assessment of potential
mitigation options based on
different cultivation scenarios
Deliverables
— GIS based maps of GHG
emissions and carbon stock
from rice fields for selected
cultivation practices in SEA
— Database of GHG emissions
inventory using ALU software
— Assessment of C budget of the
rice cultivation systems
investigated under existing
situation and rotation with
energy crops

Activity III: Spatial distribution of paddy rice cultivation area in SEA
(2002)
Reference: X. Xiao et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment (2006)

Activity III: Rice cultivation area vs. Agro-ecosystems in SEA
Rice Cultivation Area in SEA (1,000 ha)
Country
Irrigated rice a
Rainfed lowland
rice
Upland rice
Flood prone
Cambodia 154 1,124 33 614
Indonesia 6,154 4,015 1,247 23
Laos 40 319 201 -
Malaysia 445 152 84 -
Myanmar 1,124 4,166 252 602
Philippines 2,334 1,304 120 -
Thailand 2,075 6,792 36 117
Vietnam 3,687 1,955 345 778
Total 16,015 19,827 2,318 2,134
a
Irrigated rice = 2.5 crops/yr
Reference: IRRI Rice Facts, 2002

GHG Emissions from Rice Filed (Gg CO 2 -e/yr)
Activity III: Assessment of the GHG emissions of rice fields in SEA
250,000
240,080
200,000
143,756
150,000
100,000
87,480
71,542
121,519
N2O Direct from synthetic
fertiliser N
N2O Direct from N in Crop
residue
50,000
16,414
4,041
16,196
Rice Methane
-

Soil Organic Carbon Stock from Rice fields
in SEA (Gg CO2-e)
Activity III: Assessment of the soil organic carbon stock of rice fields
in SEA (Yr 2030)
2,500,000
2,373,512
2,000,000
1,878,940
1,672,474
1,500,000
1,340,995
Flood prone
1,000,000
500,000
472,678
136,085
Upland rice
Rainfed lowland rice
Irrigated rice
109,061
-

GHG Emissions and Soil Organic Carbon Stock Change
of rice fields in SEA (Gg CO2-e/yr)
Activity III: Assessment of the carbon budget of rice fields in SEA
275,000
240,080
225,000
175,000
143,756
121,519
Soil Organic C
Stocks Change in
SEA (Gg CO2-
e/yr)
125,000
75,000
87,480
71,542
GHG Emission of
Rice Fields (Gg
CO2-e/yr)
25,000
16,412
578
50
-25,000
-1,972 -858
4,041 16,196 -4,749 -2,493 -8,348 -5,759

Activity III: GIS based maps of GHG emissions from rice fields:
Case of Thailand and Vietnam
GHG Emission from Rice Fields
GHG Emission from Rice Field
Grid Size = 10 km x 10 km

Activity III: GIS based maps of carbon stock of rice fields:
Case of Thailand and Vietnam

Activity III: Assessment of potential mitigation options based on
different scenarios
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
RF Fallow land Rainfed Rice
RI Irrigated Rice Rainfed Rice
RC Corn Rainfed Rice
RS Sweet sorghum Rainfed Rice

GHG Emission from Rice Fields (Gg CO2-e)
Activity III: Assessment of potential mitigation options based on
different scenarios - Thailand
200,000
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
94,014 135,423 148,219
Soil N2O Emission from
synthetic fertiliser N and
Crop Residue
80,000
60,000
53,103
CH4 Rice cultivation
40,000
20,000
42,559
64,268
42,559 42,559
-
RF RI RC RS
Scenario

Activity III: Assessment of potential mitigation options based on
different scenarios - Thailand
Assessment of total GHG emission mitigation options based on different scenarios
RF RI RC RS

GHG Emission and Soil Organic C Stock Change of Rice
Fileds in Thailand (Gg CO2-e / yr)
Activity III: Assessment of potential mitigation options based on
different scenarios - Thailand
200,000
180,000
2,747
2,095
In case of Thailand
160,000
140,000
1,949
Soil Organic C Stocks
Change
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
1,116
51,838
42,559
91,917 132,527
145,975
64,268
42,559 42,559
Soil N2O Emission
from synthetic
fertiliser N
Soil N2O Emission
from N in Crop
Residue
CH4 Rice cultivation
-
-20,000
-8,103 -8,103 -8,103 -8,103
RF RI RC RS
Scenarios

Activity IV: Long-term soil carbon dynamics assessment of
sustainable low carbon cultivation using process model
Description of Tasks
— Assessment of long-term soil
carbon dynamics of sustainable
low carbon cultivation using
DNDC model
— Assessment of long-term soil
carbon storage and
sequestration of specific riceenergy
crop systems based on
monitoring and modeling data.
— Use of Relevant data generated
from activity II as input to
DNDC for analyzing the timeseries
change in carbon storage
vs. the corresponding GHGs
emissions.
Deliverables
— Informative data on long-term
soil carbon storage incl. rotation
with selected energy crops and
cultivation practices
— Comparative assessment of soil
carbon sequestration for
selected rice-energy crop
rotation systems
— Assessment of appropriate
cultivation practices as
mitigation options for reduced
carbon emissions in the
agricultural sector

Climate data
Activity IV: Data Input: Site
mode of DNDC model
Soil data
Crop data
Farming
management

Example;
Corn-Rice
Activity IV: DNDC simulation results

Methane emissions (kg C /ha/day)
1-Jan-10
1-Feb-10
1-Mar-10
1-Apr-10
1-May-10
1-Jun-10
1-Jul-10
1-Aug-10
1-Sep-10
1-Oct-10
1-Nov-10
1-Dec-10
1-Jan-11
1-Feb-11
1-Mar-11
1-Apr-11
1-May-11
1-Jun-11
1-Jul-11
1-Aug-11
1-Sep-11
1-Oct-11
1-Nov-11
1-Dec-11
Methane emissions (kg C /ha/day)
1-Jan-10
1-Feb-10
1-Mar-10
1-Apr-10
1-May-10
1-Jun-10
1-Jul-10
1-Aug-10
1-Sep-10
1-Oct-10
1-Nov-10
1-Dec-10
1-Jan-11
1-Feb-11
1-Mar-11
1-Apr-11
1-May-11
1-Jun-11
1-Jul-11
1-Aug-11
1-Sep-11
1-Oct-11
1-Nov-11
1-Dec-11
Methane emissions (kg C /ha/day)
1-Jan-10
1-Feb-10
1-Mar-10
1-Apr-10
1-May-10
1-Jun-10
1-Jul-10
1-Aug-10
1-Sep-10
1-Oct-10
1-Nov-10
1-Dec-10
1-Jan-11
1-Feb-11
1-Mar-11
1-Apr-11
1-May-11
1-Jun-11
1-Jul-11
1-Aug-11
1-Sep-11
1-Oct-11
1-Nov-11
1-Dec-11
Methane emissions (kg C /ha/day)
1-Jan-10
1-Feb-10
1-Mar-10
1-Apr-10
1-May-10
1-Jun-10
1-Jul-10
1-Aug-10
1-Sep-10
1-Oct-10
1-Nov-10
1-Dec-10
1-Jan-11
1-Feb-11
1-Mar-11
1-Apr-11
1-May-11
1-Jun-11
1-Jul-11
1-Aug-11
1-Sep-11
1-Oct-11
1-Nov-11
1-Dec-11
Activity IV: Comparison between observation and DNDC simulations
of daily pattern of CH 4 emissions from crop rotation systems
Fallow- Rice-Fallow-Rice
Corn- Rice-Corn-Rice
Observed
Simulated
Observed
Simulated
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Falllow Rice Fallow Rice
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Corn Rice Corn Rice
days
days
Rice- Rice-Rice-Rice
Sorghum- Rice-Sorghum-Rice
Observed
Simulated
Observed
Simulated
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Rice Rice Rice Rice
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Sorghum Rice Sorghum Rice
days
days

kg C /ha/ year
kg C /ha/ day
Activity IV: Long-term DNDC simulations for CH 4 emissions
CH 4 Flux in year 2010-2011 fallow-rice corn-rice rice-rice sorghum-rice
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1-ม.ค.-10
-2
1-มี.ค.-10 1-พ.ค.-10 1-ก.ค.-10 1-ก.ย.-10 1-พ.ย.-10 1-ม.ค.-11 1-มี.ค.-11 1-พ.ค.-11 1-ก.ค.-11 1-ก.ย.-11 1-พ.ย.-11
CH 4 Flux in year 2011-2030 Fallow-Rice Corn-Rice Rice-Rice Sorghum-Rice
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030

kg C /ha/ year
Modeled SOC (kg C/ha)
Field_SOC (kg C/ha)
Activity IV: DNDC validation; soil organic carbon stock
SOC stock in year 2010-2011
RF (model) RR (model) RC (model) RS (model)
RF (field) RR (field) RC (field) RS (field)
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
SOC stock in year 2011-2030 Fallow-Rice Rice-Rice Corn-Rice Sorghum-Rice
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030

Training Workshop: Capacity Building on Estimation of GHG
Emissions from Rice Fields-The Application of DNDC Model
• Objective:
Providing participants
with an improved
understanding of
carbon and nitrogen
biogeochemistry in
agro-ecosystem and
enhanced knowledge
of spatio-temporal
dynamics of GHGs
from rice fields
• Participants:
Researchers involved
in ARCP-APN project
and JGSEE students

Activity V: Knowledge dissemination to scientists
and policy-makers in SEA
Description of Tasks
— Capacity building workshop for
knowledge transfer to scientists
and policy-makers in SEA
regarding the strategic
approach to follow for
sustainable rice cultivation i.e.
reducing GHG emissions while
increasing energy crop
production.
Deliverables
— Capacity building of scientists
on inventories of GHG
emissions and soil organic
carbon stock using ALU and
DNDC.
— Capacity building of scientists
and policy-makers on mitigation
options in the agricultural
sector for a low carbon society.

Capacity Building Workshop on:
“Strategic rice cultivation with energy crop rotation in SEA
A path toward climate change mitigation in the
agricultural sector”
29-31 May 2013
Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel