Fertile Ground

“India is the 2nd largest producer of rice and sugar cane in the world. Consequentially, agriculture is one of India’s leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions due to increasing air temperatures, and unsustainable practices including intense overharvesting and burning crop residue. Marginalized and small farmer groups are highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change as this phenomenon reduces rice and sugar cane yield. By transitioning farmers to more sustainable practices, not only is the soil healthier, but the rate of carbon sequestration increases, removing more and more carbon from the atmosphere.”

– Geisa Príncipe, Director of Project Research

Project Type: Agriculture Land Management

Carbon Standard: Verra

Vintage: 2021-2020

Additionality: Farmers face a variety of financial, educational, and technological barriers that prevent them from using sustainable harvesting practices. Carbon finance helps farmers with the resources they need to overcome these barriers.

Permanence: The project longevity is required to be 100 years. Projects employ a buffer pool of 10 % of credits to provide insurance against a reversal Trusted on-the-ground partners work with farmers to ensure long-term behavioral changes. Continuous and shared satellite monitoring of soil health enables rapid responses to poor soil health..

Site Visit: Q4 2022

These projects combine advanced data-tracking technologies with boots-on-the-ground efforts to educate farmers about sustainable harvesting practices.

Farmers implement these techniques based on unique variables such as weather or their preexisting behavior. The ground implementation staffs, and project managers support farmers by providing comprehensive software for soil management and tracking activities, all of which are accessible through their smartphones. The data is then analyzed to determine soil health and changes in soil carbon. In addition to increasing Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in croplands, these projects are expected to generate several community benefits such as a direct boost to the livelihoods of these farmers.

There is a great deal of crop residue in the form of shoots and stalks left after a rice harvest. Traditionally these residues have been burned creating pollution in surrounding cities. However, when reincorporated into the soil, using equipment such as seeders and cutting tractors, they lead to an increase in SOC (Soil Organic Carbon).

Improving soil organic carbon naturally leads to the reduced use of fertilizer. The project teaches farmers to supplement the turned-over crop residue with manure and compost to increase soil fertility and eventually the buildup of SOC which leads to the overall biological properties of soils.

Improving water management is essential for water use efficiency. The project implements better practices in irrigation and water storage techniques which decreases water loss through evaporation. Other barriers addressed by this project are financial, knowledge, and technology access.

To achieve these goals, the project provides regular training and awareness education programs to bring about behavioral changes among the farmers.

• Improves air quality since fields are no longer burned at the end of each rotation
• Yields healthier more productive crops
• Improves soil water retention
• Uses innovative technologies
• Creates Job opportunities: Local communities are employed during the implementation and monitoring processes.

• Long-standing cultural attitudes toward agricultural intensification
• Farmers attitude toward technologies
• Area hard hit by floods