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Rice is the staple crop of more than half of the world’s population. Demand is growing with the rising population in South and Southeast Asia. However, a significant portion of rice farming still relies on traditional cultivation methods that lead to substantial methane emissions, which are a major contributor to climate change — methane is nearly 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide when it comes to warming the atmosphere, although it dissipates faster. Growing rice also requires a considerable amount of freshwater, around 3,000 liters for every kilogram of rice, or 20 million liters for every hectare of a rice farm.
