A smarter way to grow rice

“Have you had your rice today?” In Viet Nam, this everyday greeting reflects just how central rice is to life—so essential that the day doesn’t truly begin until people have eaten a few mouthfuls.

Half of humanity eats rice. But behind the ubiquitous staple lies a mounting crisis.

The global rice industry is experiencing real turbulence. Yields are stagnating after decades of intensive farming that have drained water resources and exhausted the soil. Many of the 140 million rice farmers in the world live in poverty – managing tiny plots, exposed to risks and with few opportunities to diversify. Rice farmers are also getting older on average, and the grueling demands of the job are pushing the next generation to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Now, shifting weather patterns, floods, droughts, and saltwater intrusion are making rice production even more precarious. Some experts warn that a 2°C rise in global temperatures could cut yields by as much as 20 percent—just as demand continues to climb.

Rice is itself a major driver of climate change because paddies are kept continuously flooded from planting to harvest, emitting dangerous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Smarter investments in rice could lift millions out of poverty and boost economic growth in producing countries—by raising farmer incomes, making food more affordable, and creating jobs across the value chain.

Yet too often, countries have fallen back on outdated models – propping up the system at all costs by subsidizing inputs, prioritizing volume, and engineering prices for farmers and consumers. This model is costly and wasteful - weighing on public budgets, encouraging fertilizer overuse, and ultimately doing little to increase smallholder incomes.

Clearly, the sector can do better. The answer isn’t just to produce more rice, but better rice, boosting productivity and incomes, making the crop more resistant to extreme weather, and reducing greenhouse emissions and water use.

Fortunately, the world has the solutions to power such a shift – we just need the political will and the partnerships to get us there.

Alternate wetting and drying is one such solution. Draining fields about six weeks after transplanting, then reflooding during grain filling, can cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 percent—without reducing yields.

Organizations like the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have developed new kinds of rice varieties that offer multiple wins: in addition to being low in methane and helping farmers cope with droughts and floods, they deliver significantly higher yields and are much lower in gluten content, reducing the risk of diabetes.

Higher output—paired with savings on water, fertilizer, and pesticides—can boost farmer incomes while lowering rice prices for billions, strengthening food security. In India, high-yielding rice varieties have increased farmer profits by up to 30 percent. In Bangladesh, their widespread adoption drove rice prices down by 10 to 15 percent over two decades.

But while the business case is clear, entry costs and associated needs are huge. For example, irrigation in many countries is free, which acts as a powerful disincentive to switch to alternate wetting and drying.  In addition, smallholder farmers often lack collateral and credit histories, and information that could help them farm more effectively. This makes them less attractive to financial institutions and leaves a massive investment gap, slowing down the sector’s transformation.

Meaningful change will require governments and the private sector, together with international institutions, to step up their collaboration, moving beyond pilot projects and fragmented efforts to finance and scale up proven solutions.

Governments can redirect existing public funds to reward techniques like alternate wetting and drying, finance improved irrigation and seed varietals, and help connect smallholders to climate advisory services and insurance.

Private companies can drive low-emission innovations like biochar from rice husks to improve soil health. They can also contribute to the development of the rice value chain through investing in storage, logistics and crop diversification. Several country-led initiatives across Asia are starting to turn the tide, showing that scaling better rice solutions is already achieving results.

In Viet Nam, over the last 10 years, 240,000 farmers pioneering new wetting and seeding techniques increased their earnings by 30 percent on average, cutting approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions each year. Inspired by this success, the Vietnamese government is piloting a scale up to cover an additional 1 million hectares and reduce greenhouse gas emission by up to 10 million tons of CO2e by 2030 in the Mekong Delta, the rice bowl of Viet Nam.

In Indonesia, a vast program championed by several ministries is rehabilitating close to half of the country’s irrigation and drainage network. It has succeeded in reducing fertilizer use by up to 69 percent and water by 21 percent, and is helping 350,000 farmers to increase their yields.

As pilots gain traction, the challenge now is to learn from experience, and scale what works. That’s why the World Bank Group, in collaboration with IRRI, is now introducing a new peer learning program, titled the “Scaling NextGen Rice” Impact Program.

Launched on the occasion of the 65^th anniversary of IRRI, this program will bring together an initial group of seven countries - Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam - around practical, proven policies and approaches.

This peer-to-peer cross-country learning platform will create a dynamic network of practitioners and policymakers committed to driving forward a common vision of a better, more sustainable rice sector, and connecting with partners to make it into a reality. We look forward to seeing the impact they will deliver.