Design of integrated farming system for sustainable livelihoods within an acidic soil in Long An province

Long An province, located in the Mekong Delta, has a large area of acid sulfate soils, of which tremendously high acidic soil of Thanh Hoa ward. Due to the toxic factors in the high acid sulfate soil, the area suffers the harsh natural conditions that leading to livelihoods limitation in terms of freshwater supply, drainage, agricultural cultivation, and environmental sanitation as well. The study approach is to build an integrated farming system based on the close loop of material and energy flows for a typical small-scale farm in acidic areas in Long An province for sustainable agriculture. Therefore, the potential systems meet the objectives of recycling waste by the energy efficiency analysis based on energy conversion and by the economic analysis. The results show that pig production and cultivated orchard obtain high profits. Energy efficiency from raising pigs accounts for a high proportion (50%) whereas the ratio of fish production and orchard has not reached 10%. Energy efficiency analysis implies the potential options with optimal efficiencies tend to biogas treatment and composting. In addition, the three-year lifetime system is more efficient than the one-year system. However, the household financial capacity plays the most important role in selecting for the suitable farming system as well as installation of treatment systems.

Download Full-text

Integrated farming system producing zero emissions and sustainable livelihood for small-scale cattle farms: Case study in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Environmental Pollution ◽

10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114853 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 265 ◽

pp. 114853 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Le Thanh Hai ◽

Quoc Ba Tran ◽

Van Tung Tra ◽

Thi Phuong Thao Nguyen ◽

Trong Nhan Le ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mekong Delta ◽

Farming System ◽

Small Scale ◽

Sustainable Livelihood ◽

Integrated Farming ◽

Cattle Farms

Download Full-text

An Economic-environmental-energy Efficiency Analysis for Optimizing Organic Waste Treatment of a Livestock-orchard System: A Case in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

10.21203/rs.3.rs-885740/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nguyen Thi Thu Thao ◽

Tran Thi Hieu ◽

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao ◽

Le Quoc Vi ◽

Hans Schnitzer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Efficiency ◽

Waste Treatment ◽

Mekong Delta ◽

Farming System ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Small Scale ◽

Energy Yield ◽

Treatment Model ◽

Objective Functions ◽

System A

Abstract BackgroundEconomic benefit has been analyzed for the yield of farming products when designing a farming system, while waste treatment also generates profitable energy products for this system. The economic factor is decisive in decision-making for applying waste treatment solutions for a small-scale farming system. A household farming system in the Mekong Delta generates many kinds of organic wastes, but most of the agricultural waste resources are disposed of into the environment. MethodsThis study approaches an analysis of economic-environmental-energy (EEE) efficiency for waste treatment of an integrated livestock-orchard (LO) system on a household scale in the Mekong Delta. This novel analysis method is based on the energy content of biomass and its cost. The EEE efficiency is optimized to gain objective functions regarding energy yield efficiency, system profit, and CO2 sequestration for the treatment model. The algorithms are built for optimizing these objective functions. ResultsThe optimization results show the treatment model of pyrolysis and pelleting gain all the objective functions with high efficiency. The model is efficiently applied for the LO system that generates more than 100 kilograms of orchard residues and 3,000 kilograms of pig manure. The system with a charcoal oven and pellet machine is capable to gain energy efficiency due to its potential biofuel products, such as biochars and pellet products. A treatment model of composting, pyrolysis, and pelleting gives the best performance of overall EEE efficiency. ConclusionsThis work has proven economic benefits from integrating biogas tank, charcoal oven, and pellet machine in an integrated LO system. The system contributes not only for reducing CO2 emissions but also for supplementing secondary renewable bioenergy, as well as for increasing incomes and thus supporting livelihoods for the local farming households.

Download Full-text