Rice straw eyed for bioenergy

RICE farmers and municipal agricultural officers from Laguna and Nueva Ecija participated in a series of roundtable discussions (RTDs) facilitated by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) to probe the use of rice straw for bioenergy.

Citing the harmful effects of burning rice straw in the fields such as air pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, harm to public health and motorists getting into accidents, the participants emphasized the need to use the waste product for bioenergy, fertilizer, mulching, livestock feed or mushroom substrate.