Rice Production in Egypt: The Challenges of Climate Change …
303
Thailand. It is referred to that observed seasonal rice CH 4 emissions worldwide
demonstrate large ranges, which reflects the effects of local and regional variations
in agricultural, biological, and climatic factors [29]. It is also reported that although
the rice production, among the crops, is being the world’s second most produced
staple crop, it is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of CH 4 emission. Rice
cover 11% of the global arable land area and it is responsible for 10.1% of total
agricultural GHG emissions and about 1.3–1.8% of the global human-source GHG
emissions [13].
In Egypt, rice is important in Egyptian agriculture sector, as Egypt is the largest
rice producer in the Near East region. The total area used for rice cultivation in Egypt
is about 600 thousand ha or approximately 22% of all cultivated area in Egypt during
the summer. The mean yield is 8.2 tons ha
−1 with an estimated straw production of
approximately 5–7 tons ha
−1 [29]. The carbon footprint of crop production depends
on various factors, such as soil types, crop types, cultivation practices, management
factors, types and amounts of farm inputs, irrigation conditions, etc. For a specific
crop type, these factors also differ among different countries and even within a
country, for example in Australia, irrigate barley, chickpea, wheat, and rice cropping
produce about 2.5 tCO 2 e ha
−1 , 2.6 tCO 2 e ha
−1 , 2.8 tCO 2 e ha
−1 and 1.7 tCO 2 e
ha
−1 of GHGs, respectively. The sources of CO 2 simply represented in: on-farm fuel
and electricity consumption; production, packaging, storage, and transportation of
agrochemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, plant regulators etc.);
N 2 O emissions resulted from soils associated with application of synthetic nitrogen
fertilizers; and farm machinery usage [13].
Therefore, a concern of GHGs-C emission and anxiety about global warming has
resulted in grown attention on soil C storage, which is a function of climate, soil type,
cropping systems, management practices such as tillage and fertilizers application.
Particularly, the net C emissions from the paddy soil (i.e. CO 2 or CH 4 ) are governed by several factors including soil types, crop biomass, growing condition, type
of cultivars, fertilizer practices, amendments use, water management, air transport
mechanisms, and cultural practices [16]. Recently, more studies are greatly required
to focus also on GHG emissions from aquaculture wetlands, mainly because of intensive input of organic feeding materials and frequent loading of chemical nutrients.
The available budgets of global CH 4 and N 2 O emissions from aquaculture were
obtained from modeling approaches data based on surface water dissolved CH 4 and
N 2 O concentrations. However, there is still a lack of direct field estimations of CH 4
and N 2 O fluxes to get a perception of regional or global estimations of CH 4 and
N 2 O source strengths from aquaculture wetlands. Particularly, it is not well known
if the current shift in agricultural land use from rice paddies to inland aquaculture
would point to what extent of shape the direction and rate of CH 4 and N 2 O fluxes
[28]. Therefore, with the accumulating evidence on climate change, there has been
concerning about investigating the GHGs contribution of production practices and
products to identify intensive emitting options that could be the target of GHG mitigation actions [29]. Since the global warming potential of CH 4 and N 2 O is 25 and
298 times higher than CO 2 respectively, it is well realized that attention on reducing
CH 4 or N 2 O emissions may be an effective climate change mitigation strategy [30].
303
Thailand. It is referred to that observed seasonal rice CH 4 emissions worldwide
demonstrate large ranges, which reflects the effects of local and regional variations
in agricultural, biological, and climatic factors [29]. It is also reported that although
the rice production, among the crops, is being the world’s second most produced
staple crop, it is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of CH 4 emission. Rice
cover 11% of the global arable land area and it is responsible for 10.1% of total
agricultural GHG emissions and about 1.3–1.8% of the global human-source GHG
emissions [13].
In Egypt, rice is important in Egyptian agriculture sector, as Egypt is the largest
rice producer in the Near East region. The total area used for rice cultivation in Egypt
is about 600 thousand ha or approximately 22% of all cultivated area in Egypt during
the summer. The mean yield is 8.2 tons ha
−1 with an estimated straw production of
approximately 5–7 tons ha
−1 [29]. The carbon footprint of crop production depends
on various factors, such as soil types, crop types, cultivation practices, management
factors, types and amounts of farm inputs, irrigation conditions, etc. For a specific
crop type, these factors also differ among different countries and even within a
country, for example in Australia, irrigate barley, chickpea, wheat, and rice cropping
produce about 2.5 tCO 2 e ha
−1 , 2.6 tCO 2 e ha
−1 , 2.8 tCO 2 e ha
−1 and 1.7 tCO 2 e
ha
−1 of GHGs, respectively. The sources of CO 2 simply represented in: on-farm fuel
and electricity consumption; production, packaging, storage, and transportation of
agrochemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, plant regulators etc.);
N 2 O emissions resulted from soils associated with application of synthetic nitrogen
fertilizers; and farm machinery usage [13].
Therefore, a concern of GHGs-C emission and anxiety about global warming has
resulted in grown attention on soil C storage, which is a function of climate, soil type,
cropping systems, management practices such as tillage and fertilizers application.
Particularly, the net C emissions from the paddy soil (i.e. CO 2 or CH 4 ) are governed by several factors including soil types, crop biomass, growing condition, type
of cultivars, fertilizer practices, amendments use, water management, air transport
mechanisms, and cultural practices [16]. Recently, more studies are greatly required
to focus also on GHG emissions from aquaculture wetlands, mainly because of intensive input of organic feeding materials and frequent loading of chemical nutrients.
The available budgets of global CH 4 and N 2 O emissions from aquaculture were
obtained from modeling approaches data based on surface water dissolved CH 4 and
N 2 O concentrations. However, there is still a lack of direct field estimations of CH 4
and N 2 O fluxes to get a perception of regional or global estimations of CH 4 and
N 2 O source strengths from aquaculture wetlands. Particularly, it is not well known
if the current shift in agricultural land use from rice paddies to inland aquaculture
would point to what extent of shape the direction and rate of CH 4 and N 2 O fluxes
[28]. Therefore, with the accumulating evidence on climate change, there has been
concerning about investigating the GHGs contribution of production practices and
products to identify intensive emitting options that could be the target of GHG mitigation actions [29]. Since the global warming potential of CH 4 and N 2 O is 25 and
298 times higher than CO 2 respectively, it is well realized that attention on reducing
CH 4 or N 2 O emissions may be an effective climate change mitigation strategy [30].