Climate impacts seen to reduce rice yields

MANILA, Philippines — The impacts of climate change are expected to reduce yields and nutritional value of rice as temperatures rise, hitting farmers particularly hard in regions such as Southeast Asia, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said Tuesday.

Rice contributes to climate change, with methane emitted by flooded paddy fields responsible for 10 percent of total global methane emissions.

UNEP said “rice may be cheap, but production comes at a cost.”

A single kilo of rice needs an average 2,500 liters of water to produce. Rice production uses over a third of the world’s irrigation water.

“With rice production needing to grow by 25 percent over the next 25 years to meet projected future demand, it is clear something has to change in how we grow rice in order to limit climate change, conserve water and the environment, while at the same time providing farmers with improved, sustainable incomes,” UNEP said, noting that this is where the Sustainable Rice Platform comes in.

The platform co-founded by UN Environment in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute and German development agency – Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – was set up in 2011 to connect governments, development partners, businesses, farmers and non-governmental organizations around the world to develop and implement proven solutions that benefit rice producers, consumers and the environment.