Rice straw and rice husks are the main residues from paddy cultivation, generated during the harvesting and milling process. Malaysia is one of the leading producers of paddy. It has gained 0.48 Million tonnes of rice husk with 3,176,593.2 tonnes production of rice straw in a year due to the emerging technological development in Agra-industry. Malaysia’s agriculture department is targeting to improve the productivity of the paddy sector from the current yield from 3 to 5 tonnes per hectare to around 8 tonnes per hectare in 2012 and 9 to 10 tonnes per hectare by 2020. If the target is achieved with 10 tonnes per hectare, the output of paddy will be increased to 6,575,474.8 tonnes per year. According to national news agency 200,000 ha idle land in Malaysia will be used for paddy plantation. This will increase to about 30% of paddy production. Parallel, to these the production of paddy residue also increases. Malaysia will face the problem regarding the paddy residue or waste management in the future. Unfortunately, the burning of rice straw remains the current cultural practice of disposal in Malaysia. Also, rice husk are being burned along the road that give the impact to the environment. Hence, the further studies are needed to identify the best practice to overcome this problem regarding the paddy residue management in the near future.

1. Land
preparation
Crop
establishment
Crop
management
Harvesting
Table 1: Lists the current rice straw
disposal management across the world
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
TonneMillions
Year
Paddy Production
Rice Husk Production
Rice Straw Production
Total paddy residue
Paddy and paddy residue production process
Country Practice Sources
Indonesia,
Philippines
Straw is heaped into piles
at threshing sites and
burned after harvest
(Dobermann &
Fairhurst, 2002)
Thailand, China,
Northern India
All straw remains in the
field and rapidly burned
in situ
(Dobermann &
Fairhurst, 2002)
India,
Bangladesh,
Nepal
Straw removed and used
for cooking, fodder and
stable bedding
(Dobermann &
Fairhurst, 2002)
Valencia (Spain) A project for rice straw
blankets to dry farming
(ECORICE, 2006)
California Burning the rice straw
due to low cost disposal
method
(Kadam et al., 2000)
Thailand Annually, 8.5-14.3 M
tonne about 90% of rice
straw is burned in the
fields
(Suramaythangkoor &
Gheewala,
2008),(Tipayarom &
Oanh, 2007)
Malaysia Open burning practice of
rice straw
(Ahmad, 2010),(Nori
et al., 2008)
Rice straw and rice husks are the main residues from paddy cultivation, generated during the harvesting and milling process. Malaysia is
one of the leading producers of paddy. It has gained 0.48 Million tonnes of rice husk with 3,176,593.2 tonnes production of rice straw
in a year due to the emerging technological development in Agra-industry. Malaysia’s agriculture department is targeting to improve
the productivity of the paddy sector from the current yield from 3 to 5 tonnes per hectare to around 8 tonnes per hectare in 2012 and 9
to 10 tonnes per hectare by 2020. If the target is achieved with 10 tonnes per hectare, the output of paddy will be increased to
6,575,474.8 tonnes per year. According to national news agency 200,000 ha idle land in Malaysia will be used for paddy plantation. This
will increase to about 30% of paddy production. Parallel, to these the production of paddy residue also increases. Malaysia will face the
problem regarding the paddy residue or waste management in the future. Unfortunately, the burning of rice straw remains the current
cultural practice of disposal in Malaysia. Also, rice husk are being burned along the road that give the impact to the environment.
Hence, the further studies are needed to identify the best practice to overcome this problem regarding the paddy residue in the near
future.
About 80% of rice straw industries in the world are applying
improper disposal management that causes pollution. Rice
straw is rarely used as sources of renewable energy (Binod et
al., 2010) and open burning is a common practice applied in
majority of Asian countries (UNEP, 2009).
Location Area
Block
(PPK)
Straw project production (tonne)
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Sanglang B-II 774.9 1521.45 959.85 1812.15 2147.40 1494.0
Kokbah E-III 401.4 141.75 385.2 498.15 352.35 713.25
Pengkalan
Kubur
B-IV - - - 139.5 118.35 229.5
Sungai
Limau
F-IV 521.1 559.8 580.5 1084.05 3193.2 571.95
Total 1674.4 2223.0 1898.55 3524.85 5811.3 3008.7
Figure 1: Paddy and paddy residue production, 1980-2020
Figure 3: Rice husk and rice straw disposal method
Environment impact
• Malaysia lack of application for paddy residue management.
• By 2020, Malaysia will generate abundant of paddy residue in field that can contribute to environmental impact.
• The right way of paddy residue management can create the positive impact on economic, environmental and social.
Paddy
plantation
Rice strawRice husk
A review of paddy residue management in Malaysia
S. M. Shafie
aSchool of Technology Management and Logistics, College of Business, University Utara
Malaysia, Sintok 06010 Kedah, Malaysia
shafini@uum.edu.my
Table 2: Lists the MADA location involved
in rice straw project production (0.25%
from the total rice straw production).
Figure 2:Rice straw utilization in MADA area.