Accra: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with its partners, has held an inception meeting on the Promotion of Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices for Sustainable Rice Cultivation in Ghana. The meeting aimed to align stakeholders on objectives, roles, workplans, and monitoring arrangements to support climate-smart rice production in the country.
According to Ghana News Agency, the meeting brought together government, research, and value-chain partners to unveil a national programme promoting Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) irrigation in rice cultivation. The AWD project is designed to train rice farmers to reduce water use and methane emissions while maintaining their yields and incomes.
Dr. Saeed Abdul-Razak, Head of Environment and Climate at UNDP, stated that the programme envisions transforming Ghana's irrigated rice sector into a more resilient and sustainable production system in the face of climate change threats by 2030. He emphasized that the climate-smart rice programme is part of a bilateral agreement under the Paris Agreement (Article 6) between Ghana and Switzerland, focusing on reducing methane emissions in irrigated rice farming.
The authorised Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcome (ITMO) programme aims to introduce and promote the AWD technique as a sustainable agriculture practice. The ITMO programme targets up to 20,500 hectares per cropping season, totaling 242,600 hectares of irrigated rice fields over the project duration. The adoption of AWD is expected to achieve approximately 1,200,000 tCO2e emission reductions by 2030.
Dr. Abdul-Razak noted that the programme is more than a climate intervention, as it focuses on research-driven approaches. 'We want to demonstrate evidence-based approaches and practices that can unlock climate finance, improve productivity, and also empower farmers,' he said. Through the generation of internationally transferable mitigation outcomes, farmers adopting AWD can access results-based payments.
UNDP remains committed to supporting Ghana's Nationally Determined Contribution implementation and demonstrating how high-integrity carbon markets and Article 6 can drive sustainable development. 'Together we can position Ghana as a leader in climate-smart agriculture and in operationalising Article 6,' Dr. Abdul-Razak added.
Mr. Kwabena Twumasi, Programme Analyst for Environment and Climate at UNDP, mentioned that a total of 4,752 piezometers have been distributed to farmers to monitor groundwater levels and optimize AWD implementation in rice fields. UNDP aims to scale up adoption, enhance data-driven decision-making, and ensure environmental sustainability.
