Is Green Manure (Azolla pinnata and Sesbania rostrata) a Climate-Resilient Strategy for Rice Farming?

Rice farming is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia. The climate-resilient agriculture investigation and innovation project (CRAIIP), Universitas Padjadjaran and the members of the Indonesian Farmers Community Network (JAMTANI) promoted solutions for climate-resilient rice farming through experiments in so-called climate field labs (CFL). This study contributes to the climate-resilience research by testing the nutrient uptake efficiency of three rice varieties using green manure. The farmers were involved in designing the research, selecting the rice varieties, collecting and analyzing the obtained data from climate farmer field schools. The CFL was set up as a factorial randomized block design. The first factor was green manure (10 tons/ha of cattle compost, 10 tons/ha of Azolla pinnata or 2 tons/ha of Sesbania rostrata combined with 10 tons of cattle compost) and the second factor was rice variety (the local Bangir, the widely cultivated Ciherang and the saline-tolerant Inpari 34). The CFL results revealed that the local variety Bangir with Sesbania enriched cattle manure tends to be the most efficient strategy for uptaking the nutrients. Climate-resilient policies to improve the resilience of smallholder farmers with minimal trade-offs for the environment should include the propagation of suitable varieties and promising green manure application.