Assessment of Carbon Footprint, Water Footprint, Cost and Return of Organic Rice Based on Circular Economy and Original Organic Rice

Abstract

Although original methods of organic rice farming are environmentally friendly, a circular economy concept is a new trend being applied in organic rice production. The objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate the carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF) throughout the entire process of original organic rice farming (OG-NonCE) and organic rice farming based on a circular economy approach (OG-CE), and (2) to assess cost and return of OG-NonCE and OG-CE productions. All data were collected by using a questionnaire survey with organic farm owners in Phichit province, Thailand. The concept of CF based on cradle to gate was employed to estimate GHG emission, while CROPWAT8.0 program was used to calculate the WF. The results revealed that CF intensities of OG-CE and OG-NonCE were 1.68 and 1.16 kg CO2/kg rice yield, respectively. The total WF of OG-CE production was 1543.3 m3/ton, consisting of 612.4, 85.8, and 845.1 m3/ton for green, blue, and grey WFs, respectively. Meanwhile, the total WF of OG-NonCE production was 552.5 m3/ton, including 223.0, 31.2, and 298.3 m3/ton for green, blue, and grey WFs, respectively. Under OG-CE production, it generated a return of 5793 Baht/rai, while total cost was approximately 1760 Baht/rai. The return of OG-NonCE production was 9929 Baht/rai, with a total cost of 1408 Baht/rai. Higher total WF and CF, and lower return were found under OG-CE compared with OG-NonCE due to the lower rice yield. Although OG-CE farms applied high amounts of organic fertilizer to increase rice yield, using low quality rice seeds caused low yield. This study recommended that providing knowledge and technology to produce good quality rice seed are necessary for organic rice production.