Agriculture is responsible for 60% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Applications of agrochemicals, heavy machinery used, fuel consumption, and various farm operations lead to C02 and N2O emissions. Lowland paddy emits a major amount of methane. A carbon footprint measures this quantity of Carbon dioxide generated from various agricultural inputs through life cycle assessment. Detailed Study of agrarian carbon footprint will help to select such cultivation practices that will emit the least Greenhouse gas and maintain sustainable ecological balance.

1. Credit
Seminar
SSAC-691

2. Agrarian Carbon Footprint:
A global issue
Dewali Roy
Roll No:11878
PhD 1st year
Division of Soil Science and
Agricultural Chemistry
ICAR-Indian Institute of
Agriculture
Pusa, New Delhi

3. Seminar Outline
 Introduction
 Concepts of Agrarian Carbon Footprint (CF)
 Estimation of CF
 Global & Indian scenario of agrarian CF
 Contribution of agricultural inputs to CF
 Mitigation strategies to reduce CF
 Policy to reduce Indian agrarian CF
 Conclusions
 Future thrust

4. NASA, 2020

5. Benbi et al. (2018)
Introduction
10%–14% of global
anthropogenic GHG emissions
and 19% in India(FAO, 2017)

6. Concept of Carbon Footprint(CF)
 “CF is a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions
that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated over
the life stages of a product”. (Wiedmann and Minx, 2008).
In Agriculture point of view CF is a-
Component of life-cycle assessment (LCA).
 Measures GHGs emissions during each operations and input related to crop
production.
Usually expressed in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 -eq) .

7. A theoretical model of CF in crop production
Jaiswal and Agrawal (2020)

8. The calculation and evaluation of carbon footprint are carried out using life cycle
assessment (LCA).
The CF is calculated by the respective coefficients of CO2 -equivalent (CO2 –eq )
or carbon emission (CE) factor for all the agricultural inputs causing GHG emission.
(IPCC 1997, 2006, 2014).
CF from agriculture:
1.CF= Agricultural input× emission factor
2.CF= Agricultural input× GHG emission coefficients/(Grain yield)
(Lal 2003)
Estimation of Agrarian CF

9. CFN is the carbon footprint from direct N2O emissions from N fertilizer
application (in t CE) can be calculated by this equation-
FN = Quantity of N fertilizer (t) applied for crop production.
dN= Emission factor for N2O emission induced by N fertilizer application (tN2O–
N t-1 N fertilizer)
44/28 = Molecular weight of N2 in relation to N2O
298= Net global warming potential (GWP) in a 100-year horizon
12/44= Molecular weight of CO2 used to derive the CE of N2O
Cheng et al. (2011)
Estimation of Agrarian CF from N2O emissions

10. In order to estimate methane (CH4) emission from rice cultivation (CFM) the
following equation is used-
16/12 and 44/12= Factors based on molecular weights of CH4 and CO2.
dM= Emission factor (0.17 t/ha for India).
25= Net GWP of methane over a 100-year horizon.
Cheng et al. (2011)
Estimation of Agrarian CF from CH4 emission

11. GHG emission from burning of crop residues:
Y= Crop Production.
 Rf= Residue to crop ratio.
DMf = Dry matter fraction.
Bf = Fraction burnt.
 Of = Fraction actually oxidized.
Ef = Emission factors for the GHG
Estimation of Agrarian CF from residue burning
IPCC (2006)

12. Machinery Equivalent Carbon
emission
(kg/ha CE)
1. Combine harvester 7.1
2. Cultivator 6.1
3. Digger 14.9
4. Disc Harrow 7.1
5. Paddy Thresher 22.9
6. Planker 3.7
7. Seed cum fertilizer
Drill
6.1
8. Straw Combine 18.6
9. Sugarcane Planter 24.1
Carbon emissions (CE) coefficients from
agricultural machinery
Fuel source/energy
units
(one kg of fuel)
Equivalent Carbon
emission
(kg/ha CE)
Diesel 0.94
coal 0.59
Gasoline 0.85
LPG 0.63
Natural Gas 0.85
Carbon emission coefficients (CE)
for different fuel sources
Lal (2003)

13. Emission Source Emission Factor Reference
N fertilizer 6.38 t CO2 eq/ t Lu et al. (2008)
P fertilizer 6.38 t CO2 eq/ t West and Marland
(2002)
K fertilizer 441.03 kg CO2 eq/ t West and Marland
(2002)
Insecticide 1.32 t CO2 eq/ t Hillier et al. (2009)
Herbicide 23.10 t CO2 eq/ t Hillier et al. (2009)
Fungicide 11.59 t CO2eq/ t Hillier et al. (2009)
Plastic film 2.50 t CO2 eq/ t Yang (1996)
Diesel oil for machinery 2.63 kg CO2 eq/l IPCC (2006)
Electricity for irrigation 1.85 kg CO2 eq/kw/hr Zou et al. (2007)
Labour 0.92 kg CO2 eq/day/person Yang et al. (2005)
Direct N2O from fertilizer Dry crop land- 0.01 t N2O/N
t/fertilizer t
Paddy-0.0073 t N2O/N t/fertilizer t
IPCC (2006)
Zou et al. (2007)
CH4 emission from rice 1.30 kg CH4 /ha/day Yan et al. (2005)
Emission factors of agriculture inputs used in the estimation

14. Agrarian Carbon Footprint
Scenario

15. Trends in global CF due to agriculture
FAOSTAT (2020)
9.3 billion t
CO2 eq.
CH4 + N2O = 5.3
billion t CO2 eq

16. Top 10 countries by total agrarian CF in the year 2018
FAOSTAT
(2020)

17. GHG emissions pattern from agriculture sector in India
Rao et al. (2019)

18. Crop Total CF/area
(Tg CE/ha)
Paddy rice 23.75
Wheat 4.03
Sorghum 5.94
Finger millet 2.09
Maize 3.01
Pearl millet 3.43
Red gram 2.98
Black gram 3.07
Lentil 3.45
Sunflower 6.14
Groundnut 6.16
Soybean 3.82
Rapeseed and mustard 3.37
CF of crops studied over 50 years (1960 – 2010) in India
Shah and Devakumar
(2018)

19. Contribution of
Agricultural Input to CF

20. Synthetic fertilizers
Crop residue burning
Machinery
Fossil fuel/ diesel/ electricity
Herbicides and pesticide
Continuous low land paddy cultivation
Livestock and enteric fermentation
Non judicious application of irrigation
Devakumar et al. (2018)
The major inputs contributing to Agrarian CF are:

21. Share of different inputs towards total CF
Jat et al. (2018)
MMuMb= Maize-mustard-mung bean
MWMb=Maize-wheat-mung bean

22. Zhang et al. (2017)
Carbon emission and carbon sequestration components in China

23. .
21 to 24% of total agricultural emission in India is from lowland paddy (INCCA, 2015).
Rice-523 million tons CO2 -e/year (FAO, 2015)
India is the world's leading emitter of rice-generated CH4 (27%) (FAOSTAT, 2018).
Rao et al.
(2018)
Energy intensity and total GHG emissions of cereals

24. Gas 1990 2000 2010 2015
Rice Residue CO2
CO
CH4
N2O
11,419
339
11.7
0.6
16,059
477
16.5
0.8
17,617
418
14.5
0.8
15,616
371
12.8
0.8
Wheat Residue CO2
CO
CH4
N2O
3728
226
6.6
0.2
477
290
8.5
0.2
5053
307
9.0
0.2
4929
299
8.8
0.2
Sugarcane
Residue
CO2
CO
CH4
N2O
288
18
0.5
0.01
373
23
0.7
0.02
200
12
0.4
0.01
306
19
0.6
0.01
Emission of GHGs (Gg yr−1) from residue burning in Punjab
(1980 to 2015)
Benbi et al. (2018)

25. Carbon footprint of major crops grown under rainfed and irrigated conditions
Carbon footprint (t CE/ha/year)
Major Crops Irrigated Rainfed
Paddy 4.09 ± 0.15 1.55 ± 0.09
Maize 0.17 ± 0.05 0.14 ± 0.04
Wheat 0.01 ± 0.03 0.06 ± 0.03
Cotton 0.17 ± 0.13 0.11 ± 0.07
Sunflower 0.08 ± 0.02 0.04 ± 0.15
Devakumar et al. (2018)
In India,
contribution of
irrigation to
GHG emission
is 1 - 13%,
except for wheat
and rice

26. How it is
possible?
Reduction of
agricultural CH4 and
N2O emissions by 48%
and 26% respectively
within 2030 is required
to limit global warming
temp to 1.5 °C (FAOSTAT
2017)
Mitigation measures
to reduce CF from
agriculture

27. If CO2 uptake is higher than CO2
released- Carbon Sink
If CO2 uptake is lower than CO2
released- Carbon Source
Sequestrating- 0.1 to 1.0 t C ha−1 every year.
Potential to sequestrate 0.37 and 1.15 Gt C ha−1 annually
(Paustian et al. 2016) . 1 ton of SOM
is emitting
about 3.6 t of
CO2
(Meena et al.
2016).

28. Measure Examples CO2 CH4 N2O
Cropland management Agronomy
Nutrient management
Tillage/residue management
Water management (irrigation, drainage)
Rice management
Agro-forestry
Set-aside, land-use change
+
+
+
+/-
+/-
+
+
+
+
+/-
+
+/-
+
+/-
+/-
+
Restoration of degraded lands Erosion control, organic amendments, nutrient
amendments
+ +/-
Livestock management + + +/-
Manure/bio solid/ Nutrient
management
Improved storage and handling
Anaerobic digestion
More efficient use as nutrient source
+
+
+
Bio-energy Energy crops, solid, liquid, biogas, residues + +/- +/-
Carbon Sequestration Conservation Agriculture/Zero Tillage
Residue Management
+ +/-
Organic Framing + +/- +
(+)= positive mitigation effect,
(-)= Negative mitigation effect
(+/-)= uncertain/ variable response
Proposed measures for mitigating GHGs emissions from agricultural ecosystems
FAO (2017)

29. Opinion Percentage(%) in
mitigation
Constraints
1. Methane from rice field
•Intermittent drying 25-30 Assured irrigation
•Direct-seeded rice 30-40 Machine, herbicide
•SRI (system of rice intensification) 20-25 Labour, assured irrigation
2. Methane from ruminants
• Balanced feeding 5-10 Cost, open grazing
• Feed additives 5-10 Cost, biosafety
• Efficient animals 10-20 Cost, acclimatization
3. Nitrous oxide from soil
• Site-specific N use 10-15 Awareness, fertilizer
policy
• Nitrification inhibitor 10-15 Cost, incentive
4. Carbon sequestration in soil
• Conservation agriculture 15-20 Continuity, small holding
• Organic farming 15-25 Manure availability, cost
Potential and constraints of greenhouse gas mitigation options
Pathak et al. (2014)

30. Mitigation Strategy Total emission
(kg CO2-eq/ha)
Percentage reduction
in emission intensity
Yield optimized N rate 1560 26
Economically optimized N
rate
1390 13.2
Use of controlled release
fertilizer
1507 5.9
Fertigation 1567 2.1
Legume crop rotation 1539 3.9
Solar power irrigation
pump
1470 8.1
Bio fuel powered farm
machinery
1546 3.4
Reduction in emissions due to the implementation of mitigation strategies
Hedayati et al. (2019)

31. Global warming potential (GWP) for three rice rotations
Janz et al. (2019)
=DS CH4 Emission
=WS CH4 emission
=DS N2O emission
=WS N2O emission
Paddy rice-paddy
rice
Paddy rice- aerobic rice
Paddy rice- maize
Three residue
management treatments
(C: Control, S: Straw,
M+S:Mungbean+Straw)
for land-preparation,
growing season,
and fallow period in dry
(DS) and wet Season
(WS).
mg
CO
2
-eq/ha

32. FP=Farmers practice; mid drain, midseason drainage; DSR=Direct-
seeded rice; TPR= Puddled transplanted rice; ZT=Zero tillage.
Global warming potential (GWP) of rice-wheat system under different resource conservation
technologies (RCT)
Pathak et al.
(2014)

33. Yadav et al. (2018)
Status of carbon footprint (CO2 eq kg/ha) under no tillage (NT) and conventional
tillage (CT)
Depth: 0 to 30 cm
Soil type: Clay loam.
CT-RI: CT with 100% residue incorporation (RI)
NT-RR: NT with 100% residue retention (RR)

34. Area-scaled N2O fluxes
(kg N2O–N ha−1 )
Area-scaled GWP N2O fluxes
(kg CO2 eq ha−1 )
Arable
Organic Non organic Organic Non organic
Mean SD
2.97 1.00
Mean SD
3.14 1.15
Mean SD
1209 470
Mean SD
1473 536
Grassland 0.89 0.16 5.64 2.52 418 76 2643 1118
Rice-paddies 5.33 4.60 2.28 0.30 2497 2152 1068 142
Effect of organic farming to reduced GHG emission
The mean cumulative area scaled annual (N2O) and (CH4) fluxes of the organic and non-
organic treatment for the different land uses.
Skinner et al. (2014)
Area-scaled CH4 fluxes
(kg CH4–C ha−1 )
Area-scaled GWP CH4 fluxes
(kg CO2-eq ha−1)
Arable
Organic Non organic Organic Non organic
Mean SD
−0.61 0.13
Mean SD
−0.54 0.11
Mean SD
−20.2 4.2
Mean SD
−18.0 3.6
Rice-paddies 180.68 27.29 145.70 7.23 6023 910 4857 241

35. Effects of biochar application on seasonal total CH4
emissions
Sun et al. (2019)
Eight biochar treatments (two feedstocks × two pyrolysis
temperatures × two application rates). Two control treatments:
(1) No application of urea-N fertilizer or biochar (control 1,
CK)(2) Application of urea-N but no biochar (control 2, CKU)

36. Research and Policy Options for GHGs Mitigation in Indian Agriculture
INCCA (2019)
The three Kyoto mechanisms include –
Joint Implementation (JI)
 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
 International Emission Trading (IET)
National Initiative on Climate resilient agriculture (NICRA).
National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
Carbon Trading

37. Conclusions
High level of GHG emission from agriculture sector is causing serious threat globally
towards Global warming potential.
Estimation of CF from agriculture thus accruing a considerable attention.
Among all the agricultural inputs, synthetic fertilizers(N fertilizer) contributes the
maximum CF followed by diesel consumption, residue burning and continuous lowland
Paddy cultivation.
Increasing the carbon sequestration potential through resource conserve
technology(RCT) is a potential tool to deal with rising Agrarian CF.
Appropriate use of N fertilizer, crop diversification, lowland paddy management, biochar
application and organic farming are recommended measures for lowering the CF from
agriculture.
Adaption of such management strategies before cultivation are the key factors under
climate smart agriculture to reduce agriculture CF.

38. Future Thrust
 Developing simple methodologies for quantifying GHGs emission from
agriculture and reducing uncertainties in emission coefficients.
 Developing simulation models for integrated, regional assessment of GHGs
emission and mitigation coupling with remote sensing, GIS and web-
enabled reporting tools.
 Assessing the technical, economic and socio-cultural feasibilities of
different GHGs mitigation technologies.

39. Thank you