Researchers find combining local composts, especially phumdi, made from unique floating vegetation in Loktak Lake, with chemical fertilisers outperforms traditional methods.

Rice is the most widely consumed staple cereal in Asia and is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production. Paddy fields are at the eye of a storm as they are a significant contributor of greenhouse gases (GHG) like methane that are known to contribute towards global warming. The warm, waterlogged soil conditions in rice fields promote the growth of microorganisms that release carbon-dioxide and transform it into methane. One way to manage this is by increasing the ability of the soil to store more organic carbon.