A
Japanese professor from Tohoku University
recommended the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool to rice researchers in helping
farmers cope with climate change.
LCA, according to Professor
Masanori Sato, is a technique that enables industries to identify the resource
flows (water and energy inputs), and environmental impacts (GHG emissions)
associated with the provision of products and services.
Researchers and decision
makers will find LCA useful in giving concrete recommendations to farmers on
what alternative technologies, products, processes, or services that they can
use in climate change mitigation.
“Nowadays, industries like
farming use resources such as water and energy as inputs. The common
misconception is that we tend to focus on the first and last parts of the whole
farming system, without knowing that a large chunk of carbon dioxide and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occur in the production stage. Using LCA as a
tool, we can evaluate the environmental effects of a product throughout its
life cycle, from cradle to grave,” Mr. Saito said during a lecture at
the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), 17 Feb.
Aside from LCA’s
environmental benefits, Saito also mentioned how it contributed to the
improvement of rice production in Japan. His team discovered that most carbon
dioxide and GHG emissions occur in the middle of the production and drying
stage. Their rice industry responded by changing from a conventional tillage to
a reduced tillage system where CO2 and GHG emissions are relatively low.
“Using LCA is now a necessity
as it helps businesses and industries better understand the environmental
impacts of their practices. It aids in making informed decisions in process
improvement as they reduce production costs, while also mitigating adverse
impacts to the environment,” Mr. Saito added.
LCA can be a great tool for
decision makers to make sound recommendations for farmers to adapt or follow,
and to become resourceful and strategic in finding less GHG-emitting processes
to substitute their current conventional practices.
Meanwhile, Engr. Elmer
Bautista of PhilRice, also conducted a study on LCA titled, ‘Evaluation of
the energy input-output and greenhouse gas emissions of rice production systems
in the Philippines and possible mitigation technologies.’
“When you do LCA, you will
know each step in the rice production process. You can identify which step
produces the most emissions. From there, we plan our actions,” Mr. Bautista
said.
He also mentioned that LCA is
not widely used in the country because people are not informed about it.
Messrs. Saito and Bautista
encouraged more Filipino researchers to use LCA like what Japan and Australia
did to reduce the harmful gas emissions during production.
“Climate change is now
affecting all industries, not only in the agricultural sector. This is a call
for everyone to be responsible in their practices. Since climate change is
inevitable, the most we can do is not to contribute to its effects,” Mr. Saito
concluded. (PhilRice news)
Comments
Post a Comment