Comments
March 21
nurture.farm, the digital platform for sustainable agriculture, claimed on Monday that it has become the first company to generate and forward-sell agricultural-related carbon credits in India. The company’s alternate wetting and drying and dry seeded rice (AWD-DSR) project has generated 20,000 carbon credits for methane reduction.
The AWD-DSR project, that covered 22,000 acres of paddy fields and involved 2,500 small holder farmers, forms a crucial part of nutrure.farm’s mission to transition farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices and reduce the environmental impact of rice cultivation. Benefits from the project included 15-30 per cent of water savings, the company said in a statement.
Another 1.2 lakh carbon credits are under process from the crop residue management (CRM), a programme that empowered over 25,000 farmers to prevent 4.2 lakh acres of farmland being burnt, thereby preventing generation of 2,135 tonnes of particulate matter, including PM 2.5 and PM 10.
Validation programme
The AWD-DSR programme is now being submitted to a global validation agency and in two quarters’ time to the Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) for final verification and credit generation. The CRM programme will follow suit, with submission to the validation agency in the next quarter.
In the rabi cropping season, nurture.farm expanded the AWD-DSR programme to an additional 1.2 lakh acres and the company plans to create more carbon credits by further expanding its projects. In 2022, nurture.farm’s CRM project will cover at least one million acres, while it will scale up its AWD-DSR project to 1.8 lakh acres.
nurture.farm said it has set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023.
Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO, said India is well placed to pioneer agriculture-related carbon credit trading.
“As the first agriculture company to successfully generate and forward-sell carbon credits in India, we are unlocking new opportunities and outcomes for farming communities. Demand for credible carbon credits from the voluntary carbon markets can drive massive shifts to sustainable agriculture practices. We look forward to working with more farming communities this year as we scale up our CRM and AWD-DSR programs making farmers more resilient by securing better yields, improved soil health and enhanced livelihoods,” Sawhney said.
Trading platform
nurture.farm is currently developing protocols for verifying traceable carbon credits through its online platform and use blockchain technology to trade credits on carbon markets.
During the course of 2022, nurture.farm will also establish a common carbon credits registry and trading platform, which utilises a standardised methodology to simplify traceability and make verification easier, the company said.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.