GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Where does methane come from? Agriculture is the predominant source. Livestock emissions – from manure and gastroenteric releases – account for roughly 32 per cent of human-caused methane emissions.

Detailed explanation-2: -Rice cultivation is both an important sequester of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and an important source of greenhouse gases (e.g. methane and nitrite oxide) emission.

Detailed explanation-3: -Methane is produced as the terminal step of the anaerobic breakdown of organic matter in wetland rice soils. Methane is exclusively produced by methanogenic bacteria that can metabolize only in the strict absence of free oxygen and at redox potentials of less than-150 mV (Wang et al. in press).

Detailed explanation-4: -However, rice production itself has an impact on the climate: significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are byproducts of rice farming and the rice value chain.

Detailed explanation-5: -According to the Global Methane Assessment published in 2021, methane emissions from livestock (including cattle) are the largest sources of agricultural emissions worldwide A single cow can make up to 99 kg of methane gas per year.