FiBL team member Dr. Gurbir S. Bhullar has received the 2014 research award from the Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR). The former ETH Zurich researcher has explored an interesting possibility for farmers to cultivate climate-neutral rice while also creating added value.
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| SFIAR award winner Gurbir S. Bhullar. |
In order to feed a growing global population, rice farmers must increase their production. This, however, is problematic for the global climate: flooded paddy fields are one of the most significant sources of the greenhouse gas methane. In response to this conflict of interests, Dr Bhullar investigated new, less climate-damaging cultivation methods for rice, while he was still working at ETH.
He established the potential of certain aquatic plants to reduce methane emissions from soil. According to a media release by SFIAR, Dr Bhullar demonstrated that a larger diversity of plants reduces greenhouse emissions from paddy fields. He also identified which aquatic plants are generally suitable for co-cultivation with rice. Finally, he proved that certain aquatic plants could halve methane emissions from rice cultivation without adversely affecting rice production. These results open interesting perspectives for rural development in rice-growing regions. The co-cultivation of rice and aquatic plants would not only have a positive effect on the climate and biodiversity but would also contribute to improved nutrition for the farmers and create new income-generating opportunities.
Further InformationContact
Beate Huber
Link
sfiar.ch: Website SFIAR award