SUSTAINABLE RICE STRAW MANAGEMENT IN VIETNAM: CURRENT SITUATION, CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL

Vietnam is now one of the world’s largest rice-producer all over the world. The development of intensified production systems and high-yielding mordern rice varieties has increased the amount of rice straw for the last three decades. In this paper, the quantity of rice straw in different agro-ecological zone of Vietnam were estimated based on statistical data of rice productivity and ratio value of dry rice straw with rice grain. The use and potential of rice straw were evaluated by reviewing existing articles from scientific journals and reports. The results showed that Vietnam produce annually more than 51 million tons of dry rice straw so that rice straw management is an opportunity to utilize the available resource and reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint in Vietnam. Currently, there are common types of rice straw treatment and management exist (Open-field burning, incorporation into soil, livestock fodder, composting, mushroom production, mulching etc…) but the use of rice straw also varied seasonally and regionally. The review results also showed that 75% of Vietnamese farmers have still burned or incorporated rice straw into soil after harvesting since it was a quick and cheap way to eliminate rice residues. Better management option to handle rice straw should therefore be explored further and should be widely adopted by farmers. Off-field rice straw management option and business models should also be piloted and disseminated through suitable business models. Government policies should also be supportive of banning open-field straw burning and encourage farmer to implement alternatives rice straw management practices by providing incentive to farmers and advocating more technology transfer.