Extract from ABC News
Damian Platten is confident research being conducted in the Philippines will help rice growers worldwide. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
The livelihood of the world's 150 million rice farmers comes with a cruel paradox.
Many are among the poorest in the world, living in regions hardest hit by climate change, yet they depend on a crop which is worsening its effects.
Rice, a staple crop feeding 4 billion people daily, contributes to 10 per cent of global human-made methane emissions.
At the world's largest rice research hub in the Philippines, an elite team of rice scientists is on a mission to slash rice's carbon footprint and develop new varieties resilient to climate change.
Cutting rice's carbon footprint
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has been home to climate change scientist Ando Radanielson since 2011. She believes the industry's goal of cutting emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 is achievable if farmers adopt climate-smart farming methods.
"It's very hard to engage farmers to be sensitive to climate change, but they'll be very much sensitive to reductions of inputs, reduction of cost of production," Dr Radanielson said.
In the trial, emissions are recorded every 30 minutes, according to Ando Radanielson. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
She is targeting the three most potent greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.
Her team has found that methane emissions, a by-product of traditional flooded paddy systems, can be cut by 70 per cent by alternating wetting and drying of paddy soils.
"A 50 per cent reduction was the average, when you get to 70 per cent that's way more than what we can expect,"she said.
She's testing if charcoal known as biochar added to soil can capture methane before it's released into the atmosphere, with answers expected in a few years.
Australia funds several IRRI projects, including a million-dollar greenhouse used for drought trials.
Genebank gold mine
Queensland-born scientist Damien Platten joined IRRI in 2009.
He connects researchers with the contents of IRRI's gene bank, which holds 132,000 of the world's estimated 400,000 rice varieties.
Australia has donated more than 200 wild and cultivated varieties.
Dr Platten described the bank as a genetic gold mine.
In the past five years, IRRI's gene bank has distributed 159,815 samples to 1,419 plant breeders in 61 countries. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
"We've probably used effectively maybe 1 per cent of that, so there's still a huge amount of potential," he said.
Gene bank manager Venuprasad Ramaiah says artificial intelligence is accelerating the identification of genes researchers need.
"From the 1970s till 2023, only 20,000 varieties were ever screened for flood tolerance, but using AI-based methodology, in one season we screened 60,000 varieties," Mr Ramaiah said.
"You name a problem in the world related to rice cultivation, I can give you an example how this gene bank has contributed to solve that problem, whether it's higher yield, tolerance to disease, drought, flooding or [improved] nutrition.
Venuprasad Ramaiah feels a huge responsibility to succeed so the world will benefit from this work. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
"It's expected to be here in perpetuity till mankind exists so it's a huge responsibility to keep it so that the global community will benefit."
Common among staff is the belief working at IRRI is a calling.
Mr Ramaiah said the responsibility "keeps him up at night", while plant breeder Suresh Kadaru said helping farmers was "his purpose in life".
Suresh Kadaru is motivated to future proof farmers so climate-related crop failures don't tip them into poverty. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
"We need to breed with the speed of the climate change, that's the only way that we can at least counter the thing that we have not under control at this point," Dr Kadaru said.
Adapting rice farming for the future
Agronomist Virender Kumar says genes sourced from the bank helped develop varieties which thrive when sown on dry paddies, a method called dry direct seeding.
"It eliminated methane production up to 90 per cent, so it has a drastic impact on greenhouse gas emissions," Dr Kumar said.
The results of the study at harvest indicate that uniform seeding leads to higher yields and better-quality rice. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
"If there's no flooding there's no methane production, if we can mitigate methane we can start seeing the reverse impact of climate change within a decade."
Crucially, this climate win does not come at the expense of farming families.
"You save labour, you save water, and these are becoming scarce and expensive. Farmers can save almost $US125 [$198] per hectare, from the very first day when they start planting their crop."
Virender Kumar says part of the challenge is breeding new varieties quickly to stay ahead of climate change. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)
Australian scientist Damian Platten says there's a sense of urgency at IRRI, driven by the desire to do more for farmers than keep up with climate change.
This story was produced with the assistance and support of the Crawford Fund and DFAT Australian ASEAN Council.
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