Reducing Agricultural Methane Programme

Methane is responsible for about a third of global warming, trapping 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Food systems, particularly livestock farming and rice cultivation, contribute approximately 60 per cent of global methane emissions.

However, methane also has short atmospheric lifetime. This means that reducing emissions can yield immediate benefits, helping to limit global warming. Rapidly reducing methane emissions in agriculture is the single most effective strategy to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5˚C within reach. Other positive knock-on effects include improved air quality, more sustainable food systems, increased adaptive capacity to climate change and better agricultural productivity.

Although small-scale farmers are not major emitters, they can still adopt practices that reduce emissions while enhancing production and income, such as better livestock management and rice cultivation techniques.

With funding from the Global Methane Hub and the US State Department, IFAD’s Reducing Agricultural Methane Programme (RAMP) will support methane reduction in the agriculture sector by:

• integrating agricultural methane mitigation targets into countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions;
• supporting projects focused on reducing methane in agriculture and food systems; and
• sharing best practices and knowledge.