Crop Residues Management for Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change Mitigation

Agriculture contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for roughly one-eighth of total anthropogenic emissions. A major yet underutilized resource within this sector is crop residues, biomass byproducts often discarded or burned in open fields. Such practices release large amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, degrade soil quality, and exacerbate air pollution. Conversely, sustainable crop residue management presents a critical opportunity for renewable energy generation, greenhouse gas mitigation, and rural development. This review article synthesizes existing research on the current patterns, technologies, and policy frameworks of crop residue management, with a particular focus on developing countries. It highlights the persistence of inefficient traditional practices such as open-field burning and low-efficiency household combustion, and evaluates cleaner and more efficient thermochemical (e.g., pyrolysis, gasification) and biochemical (e.g., anaerobic digestion) conversion pathways. These technologies can transform crop residues into a variety of valuable bio-products, including biofuels, syngas, biochar, biogas, and digestate, that simultaneously offset fossil fuel use and enhance soil fertility. Drawing on findings from life-cycle assessment studies, this review shows that substituting fossil fuels with crop-residue-derived energy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50% and non-renewable energy demand by over 80%. The analysis underscores the dual benefits of crop residue utilization for climate change mitigation and sustainable rural energy access, while identifying persistent barriers such as technological inefficiency, collection logistics, soil carbon trade-offs, and inadequate policy and financial support. The review concludes that integrating sustainable crop residue management into national energy and agricultural strategies is essential for achieving low-carbon development and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. Strengthened policy measures, promoting technological innovation, farmer education, and private-sector investment, are crucial to transforming crop residues from an environmental burden into a cornerstone of a circular bioeconomy that fosters energy security, soil restoration, and climate resilience.