AGRICULTURE

THE STATE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 2016
1 following IPCC Guidelines for National GHG
Inventories. The emissions are estimated as the
product of an activity level (such as number of
livestock, harvested area, application of fertilizer
or other) and an emissions factor from the IPCC.
They include the following sub-domains: burning
crop residues (CH 4 , N 2 O); burning savanna (CH 4 ,
N 2 O); crop residues (N 2 O); cultivation of organic
soils (N 2 O); enteric fermentation (CH 4 ); manure
management (CH 4 , N 2 O); manure left on pastures
(N 2 O); manure applied to soils (N 2 O); rice
cultivation (CH 4 ); and synthetic fertilizers (N 2 O).
Emissions/removals from forests consist of CO 2
emissions from the degradation of forest lands
and carbon removals (carbon sink) by land that
has remained forest land from year t – 1 to year t.
At the country level, forest data are either
positive (net emissions) or negative (net sinks).
Emissions from net forest conversion are CO 2
emissions resulting from deforestation, or the
conversion of forest land to other uses.
Emissions from burning biomass consist of gases
produced from the burning of biomass for the
following items: humid tropical forest, other
forests, and organic soils. They consist of
methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and, only in
the case of organic soils, also carbon dioxide
(CO 2 ).
Emissions from cropland organic soils are those
associated with carbon losses from drained
organic soils of croplands.
Emissions from grassland organic soils are those
associated with carbon losses from drained
organic soils of grasslands.
TABLE A.3
Agricultural emissions in CO 2 equivalent by
source, 2014
Source: FAO, 2016.
Emissions from burning crop residues consist of
methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) gases
produced by the combustion of a percentage of
crop residues burned on-site. The mass of fuel
available for burning should be estimated taking
into account the fractions removed before burning
due to animal consumption, decay in the field, and
use in other sectors (e.g. biofuel, domestic
livestock feed, building materials). Emissions are
estimated as the product of an IPCC emissions
factor and activity data (the amount of biomass
burned, which is calculated from harvested area of
wheat, maize, rice and sugarcane).
Emissions from burning of savanna consist of
methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) gases
produced from the burning of vegetation biomass
in the following five land cover types: savanna,
woody savanna, open shrublands, closed
shrublands and grasslands. Emissions are
calculated as the IPCC emissions factor times
activity data (total mass of fuel burned using the
Global Fire Emission Database).
Emissions from crop residues consist of direct
and indirect nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from
nitrogen (N) in crop residues and forage/pasture
renewal left on agricultural fields by farmers.
Direct emissions are estimated as the product of
activity level (crop yield and harvested area) and
an emissions factor from the IPCC. Crops
considered include barley, beans-dry, maize,
millet, oats, potatoes, rice-paddy, rye, sorghum,
soybeans and wheat. Indirect emissions are also
estimated; they are the N in crop residues
forage/pasture renewal that is lost through
runoff and leaching.
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