A farm-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in rice production under acidic soil conditions in Malaysia

Acidic soils constrain rice production in Malaysia by reducing yields and increasing input intensity, which affects energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study applied a manual life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to evaluate energy demand and GHG emissions under standard (pH > 5) and acidic (pH < 5) soil conditions in the Integrated Agricultural Development Area (IADA), Seberang Perak, Malaysia. Liming under acidic conditions increased total energy consumption by 2 % (23,500 MJ/ha) and GHG emissions by 139 % (2,326 kg CO2-eq/ha). The regression analysis revealed high associations between soil pH, yield (R2 = 0.81), energy efficiency (R2 = 0.81), and GHG intensity (R2 = 0.72), indicating soil conditions highly influenced sustainability performance.