Study of Methane Gas Emissions from Agricultural Activities and its Coping Strategies in Bedog Sub-watershed

Abstract

Abstract Food production through agricultural activities needs to be intensified to meet food demand. Agricultural activities can also emit methane (CH4) emissions and thus contribute to climate change. Assessing agricultural activities can be done by measuring CH4 emissions, which we implemented in the Bedog Sub-watershed. The purposes of this paper are (1) to calculate CH4 emissions from agricultural activities, and (2) to propose strategies to deal with CH4 emissions. Emissions calculation was done by using IPCC 2006 framework. The mapping results of agricultural area in 2015 and 2020, which consists of rice field area and rice variety, were used in this study, along with Tier 1 IPCC factor. The results of this study show (1) the value of CH4 emissions from rice fields in 2015 was 0.73 Gg CH4/year and decreased by 0.64 Gg CH4/year in 2020. Meanwhile, methane emissions from animal husbandry were 0.35 Gg CH4/year in 2020. This decrease was caused by land-use change in the Bedog Sub-watershed. (2) Theoretically, adaptation and mitigation strategies that can be implemented in the Bedog sub-watershed are the technology for water management and farming, capacity building, determining the appropriate variety and feed, fertilizing, regulating water regimes, method of tillage, and processing biogas.