A Study on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Paddy Cultivation Mechanization in Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

Abstract

Viet Nam is still an agricultural country because half the people work in the agricultural sector. The total rice export passed more than seven billion US dollars in 2021, taking over nearly 17% of the one agricultural production export of the country. Mekong Delta is considered the granary of Vietnam. With a total paddy area of 4.07 million ha, the annual rice production was 24.3 million tons, accounting for half of Viet Nam rice production. The rice production in the Mekong Delta is done mostly by machines that use mostly diesel oil and gasoline. The Mekong Delta's power level of rice farming is around 3.17 HP/ha. The application of machines in rice farming has many advantages. However, it also contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions from burning fuel (direct emission) and manufacturing (indirect emission) of our earth's machines that cause rising temperatures, unpredicted weather events, and some other impacts referred to generically as ‘global warming’. This paper studies the impacts of using machines in paddy production mechanization in Mekong Delta on the greenhouse gas emission. The results indicate that the direct CO2 eq. emission in rice farming operations is 0.22 ton/ha per cropping season, and the indirect CO2 eq. emission is 0.02 tons/ha. With the paddy area of 4.07 million ha in the Mekong Delta, total CO2 eq. emission from mechanization in rice farming corresponds to 733,000 tons/year.