Vietnam implements new farming techniques in effort to mitigate methane [Video]

• Vietnam, a major rice exporter, is aiming to transform its farming techniques by reducing its emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas.
• Rice paddies generate methane due to flooded conditions inhibiting soil oxygen, making up 8 percent of human-made methane emissions globally.
• The crop holds cultural and economic significance in Vietnam, with the Mekong Delta being a vital region for rice production since the end of the Vietnam War.

There is one thing that distinguishes 60-year-old Vo Van Van’s rice fields from a mosaic of thousands of other emerald fields across Long An province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta: It isn’t entirely flooded.

That and the giant drone, its wingspan similar to that of an eagle, chuffing high above as it rains organic fertilizer onto the knee-high rice seedlings billowing below.

Using less water and using a drone to fertilize are new techniques that Van is trying and Vietnam hopes will help solve a paradox …