Health Impact Assessment from Rice Straw Production in Cambodia
Source abstract
Abstract
Rice is a staple crop best known for its crucial role in feeding humans. In Cambodia, the human population depends on rice as its staple food. Increased rice production results in an increase in straw residue. The extensive residue caused by straw burning significantly contributes to high concentrations of air pollution, which are associated with critical health issues. As such, our objective in this study was to assess the human health impact of rice straw production in Cambodia. In this assessment, we focused on primary and secondary fine particulate matter formation (PM2.5, NH3, NOx, and SO2) from fertilizer, combustion of fuel in rice production processing, and burning of straw. We assessed endpoint impact by the following methods: (1) We estimated the proportion of rice straw from the annual rice production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) of Cambodia subjected to open burning in all 25 Cambodian provinces. (2) We calculated air pollutants emissions in terms of kilograms of pollutants per ton of rice produced by following the air pollutant emission inventory (EI) in the EMEP/EEA Guidebook for 2019, using data for fertilizer and fuel combustion that was applied in the field, based on a face-to-face survey of farmers. (3) We analyzed health impact in terms of DALYs using the characterization factor (CF) adapted from the ReCiPe 2016 v1.1 method. The results showed that the total health impact of rice straw production was 13,093.50 DALYs. Our analysis showed that open burning alone contributed 98.55% of the total health impact considered in this study, while fertilizers and combustion contributed only 0.12% and 1.33%, respectively. As the major of the total health impact arose from open burning, a policy of zero open burnings should be an effective way to reduce health impacts. These findings provide information for policymakers on how to alleviate air quality issues caused by the practice of open straw burning by adopting alternative techniques of rice straw management.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Air Quality and Health Impacts · Energy, Environment, Economic Growth · Energy and Environment Impacts
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Graduate School of ITC, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Russian Federation Blvd., Phnom Penh P.O. Box 86, Cambodia
Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Russian Federation Blvd., Phnom Penh P.O. Box 86, Cambodia
Research and Innovation Center, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Russian Federation Blvd., Phnom Penh P.O. Box 86, Cambodia
Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Russian Federation Blvd., Phnom Penh P.O. Box 86, Cambodia
General Department of Science Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Industry Science Technology & Innovation, Norodom Boulevard, Sangkat Phsar Thmey III, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh 120203, Cambodia
Funding
Cambodia Higher Education Improvement Project
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