Most farmers have easy access to organic residues  like rice straw, rice husks, other organic residues, manure, etc. at no or little cost except for their labor. Manure generally has the highest nutrient content and has the best effect in terms of rice productivity but straw and rice husks also give good results.

Application of 2 tons residues per hectare increases yields by about 0.5 tons paddy per hectare. With continued applications, this can even increase over time.

Residue burning, however, causes the loss of nutrients (especially nitrogen and sulfur) and of other beneficial effects of organic residues and is therefore not recommended.