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Turning climate action into income for Cambodia’s rice farmers
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
By Rathany Chhum
Junior Research Fellow
Future Forum's Junior research fellow, Rathany Chhum, has published a new commentary on turning climate action into income for Cambodia’s rice farmers. Check out the full article below!
What if Cambodian rice farmers could earn income not only from the rice they harvest but also from how it is grown? As climate change increasingly threatens agricultural productivity, climate-smart practices such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) may turn environmental challenges into new economic opportunities. Can Cambodia transform climate-smart rice farming into a new source of income for its farmers? What policies, institutions, and financial mechanisms are needed to make this transition possible?
Climate risks in Cambodia’s rice sector
Rice plays a central role in Cambodia’s agricultural economy and rural livelihoods. According to the 2023 Cambodia Census of Agriculture, the country has approximately 3.4 million agricultural households, and nearly two-thirds of agricultural land is devoted to rice cultivation. Rice exports have also expanded significantly, reaching 940,321 tonnes of milled rice in 2025 and generating more than $602 million in export revenue. These figures highlight the importance of the rice sector not only for food security but also for rural incomes and national economic growth.
Despite its importance, Cambodia’s rice sector faces growing challenges. Climate change is increasingly affecting agricultural productivity through rising temperatures, irregular rainfall patterns, droughts, and flooding. Research found that rice yields in Cambodia could decline by up to 30 percent by 2050 and lower the country’s GDP by around 9% if no action is taken. These climate risks threaten the livelihoods of millions of rural households that rely on rice farming as their primary source of income.
At the same time, rice cultivation is also a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane emissions generated from flooded rice fields. In Cambodia agriculture contributes ~65% of methane emissions, followed by waste (~20%) and energy (~15%). Traditional continuous flooding practices create anaerobic soil conditions that produce methane, a greenhouse gas with a much higher warming potential than carbon dioxide. With a critical need for local adaptation, sustainable farming practices have become an important priority for many rice-producing countries like Cambodia.
Cambodia’s sustainable rice farming and regional lessons
One promising solution is Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), a water-management technique that periodically drains rice fields instead of maintaining continuous flooding. By allowing fields to dry for short periods between irrigation cycles, it can significantly reduce methane emissions while maintaining—or even improving—rice yields. The DeiMeas report (2022–2025), a comprehensive study conducted in the 33.5-hectare Kanghot irrigated rice perimeter in Battambang province, highlights that implementing AWD could mitigate an estimated 1.01 to 3.46 tCO₂eq/ha.
Because AWD reduces methane emissions, these reductions can be measured, verified, and converted into carbon credits that companies purchase to offset their emissions. In this way, AWD rice farming practices can potentially create an additional income stream for farmers while contributing to climate mitigation.
Vietnam provides an interesting example. The One Million Hectares Low-Emission Rice Program, launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, aims to convert one million hectares of rice fields in the Mekong Delta to low-emission farming practices by 2030. In this project, farmers must adopt the “1 Must-Do (remove rice straw), 5 Reductions (seed, fertilizers, pesticides, waters)” (1P5G) approach alongside AWD. Early pilot projects in Can Tho and Tra Vinh show promising results: production costs declined by 8–24%, yields increased by 2–7%, and greenhouse gas emissions decreased by about 8.18 tCO₂e per hectare compared with traditional farming. Supported by international partners, Vietnam has launched a national carbon credit framework for rice farming that integrates emission reductions with a rigorous Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system. This initiative ensures a traceable supply chain for certified low-emission rice. Consequently, Vietnam became the first nation to scale this model, exporting 71,000 tonnes of “Vietnam Green and Low-Emission Rice” produced across 18,000 hectares.
Cambodia has also begun exploring AWD rice farming but has not yet scaled these initiatives to national targets like Vietnam. Several pilot programs have introduced AWD and sustainable practices in Cambodian rice systems, primarily from private sector initiatives. For instance, between 2024 and 2026, Green Carbon Inc., a Japanese company, expanded its AWD project to engage nearly 20,000 farmers across five provinces. Building on a 1,000-ha Battambang pilot that indicated a 77% methane emissions reduction (3.48 tCO₂e/ha), 40% lower water use, and 3.77% higher yields, the company aims to scale to 500,000 ha over the next decade, potentially eliminating 20 million tonnes of CO₂e. Similarly, South Korea’s ThanksCarbon Company plans to expand its 10,000-ha of adopting AWD in 2026 with government partners in Battambang.
While these initiatives demonstrate the technical feasibility of AWD in Cambodia, they remain relatively small compared with the scale of the country’s rice sector and are largely driven by private actors rather than a government initiative.
Cambodia’s 2025 National Methane Reduction Roadmap targets a 20% cut in agricultural methane by 2030 and 50% by 2050. While it promotes climate-smart practices like AWD rice cultivation, improved livestock feed, and biogas production, the plan lacks specific adoption targets for acreage or farmer participation. Without these concrete metrics, coordinating roles and responsibilities across government agencies and other actors and scaling the transition remains a significant challenge.
Policy priorities for scaling low-emission rice farming
To transform low-emission rice farming into a viable income opportunity for our farmers, Cambodia should focus on two priority actions.
First, establish clear national targets for low-emission rice farming. Cambodia should set measurable targets for adopting AWD as part of national agricultural strategies and climate commitments under the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) should lead this effort in coordination with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
In the short term (2026–2027), MAFF can identify priority provinces like Pursat, Takeo, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng with the irrigation infrastructure needed to support AWD and set clear indicators, such as the number of hectares adopting AWD and the number of farmers participating. These targets can be linked to MAFF’s existing initiatives to strengthen Agricultural Cooperatives (ACs) and Modern Agricultural Cooperatives (MACs), which the ministry has prioritized for development as a key community empowerment strategy. Knowledge and technical skills for AWD farming can be transferred to the target rice farmer communities through MAFF’s new initiative to deploy agricultural technical officers at the commune level.
Clear national targets would signal strong government commitment, mobilize support from development partners and private investors, strengthen institutional coordination, and enable Cambodia to track progress toward methane reduction and broader climate goals. These targets should be driven by government leadership while encouraging participation from the private sector and other stakeholders.
Second, Cambodia can develop a national framework for agricultural carbon markets. Although several private companies are already implementing carbon credit projects in Cambodia’s rice sector, the absence of a national framework creates uncertainty and limits scalability. MoE should lead the development of a national monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to ensure that emissions reductions from rice farming meet national guidelines and international carbon market standards. MAFF could oversee technical standards and farmer support, while the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Environment develop financial mechanisms to mobilize green or climate finance and manage the distribution of revenues from carbon credit sales.
Under such a system, farmers can earn additional income by adopting practices like AWD that reduce methane emissions by signing a contract with MAFF under AC or MAC; these reductions are measured, verified, and converted into carbon credits by MoE, which are then sold to companies or buyers seeking to offset their emissions. A portion of the revenue from these credit sales is returned to farmers—either as direct payments, price premiums, or support for inputs and services—thereby creating a financial incentive to sustain climate-smart practices.
Most importantly, this framework should clearly ensure transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms that protect farmers’ interests while attracting investment. Transparent arrangements are essential to ensure that farmers receive a fair share of carbon credit revenues and build trust, with clear guidelines on how revenue is distributed among farmers, cooperatives, project developers, and investors.
Some stakeholders may worry that transitioning to low-emission rice production could increase short-term costs for farmers. However, regional experience and study in Cambodia show that improved water management and more efficient input use can reduce production costs while maintaining yields. With clear targets, supportive policy frameworks, and stronger farmer support systems, Cambodia can achieve the dream of not only producing the best rice in the world but also adopting the most sustainable farming practices.
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