Reeling under the impact of changing climatic patterns and volatile price trends, the plantation sector on Tuesday made a pitch for the government for creation of a voluntary carbon market in the country so that beleaguered growers can monetise the carbon sequestration potentials of their estates growing crops such as tea, coffee, rubber and spice among others.

At a seminar organised by the Indian Institute of Plantation Management Bengaluru in collaboration with the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) and The Indian Tea Association, stakeholders of the plantation sector deliberated on the opportunities for tapping the carbon market potential for the sector. BusinessLine was the media partner for the event.

M P Cherian, President, UPASI, stressed upon the need for a policy push that will allow agri-plantations to trade in sequestered carbon. “It is time that government of India creates a clear structure and mechanism for establishment of a voluntary carbon trading market in the country,” Cherian said.

While stating that the adverse impact of climate change on agriculture was undeniable, Cherian said it has increased the uncertainty of yields in the plantation crops.

“Various studies have shown that plantation crops being fast growing perennial species with minimal tillage system have the ability to sequester very high amounts of carbon. While rubber plantations have been found to have highest carbon sequestration per hectare, other plantation crops such as such as tea, coffee, cardamom and cocoa also hold the carbon sequestration potential. The poly-culture methods of multi-cropping, inter-cropping and agro-forestry can further enhance these attributes,” Cherian said.

Arijit Raha, Secretary General, ITA, stressed on the need for the plantation sector to align with the declaration made by the government to become net zero by 2070. The tea sector has an advantage as far as carbon status is concerned, when compared to other industries, Raha said.

Citing an ITA study, carried out in 2013, Raha said the tea sector by nature of its operations, is carbon positive. “Our carbon sequestration far outweighs the emissions. We are in a manner speaking ahead of the curve. We need to best understand how to leverage the status to our advantage,” Raha said.

Further, commenting on the issue of carbon trading, Raha said that there was a need to institutionalise a vehicle that could connect the tea sector to the carbon market. He called upon the experts to explore what role the industry associations such as UPASI and ITA could play within the framework that’s existing within the government rules to take this forward.

Santosh Kumar, Executive Director, Harrisons Malayalam Ltd in his keynote address also stressed upon the need to have an institutional mechanism for carbon trade in the country.

“We need to develop a very strong voluntary carbon trading market in the country, where by people will be able to trade carbon credits and get the money for the carbon which they are sequestering and at the same time industries can buy these credit and go ahead to meet their commitments,” Kumar said adding that such a thing represents a fine balance between development and conservation.

Kumar further said that the rate at which the Indian economy is growing, it is highly important to bring down the emissions as we have taken a target of reducing the emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. It is uphill task for the government to achieve this target unless these kinds of schemes are brought in, he said.

Prof V G Dhanakumar, Director, IIPMB said his institute would come up with a white paper on the carbon market potential in the agri-plantation sector that would be submitted to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for further action.

Kundan Burnwal, Advisor, Climate Change, GIZ Germany spoke on the monetising aspects of carbon credits for agri plantations, while Anjana Sharma, DGM, Climate Serivces Division, KBS Certification spoke on the steps involved in developing the carbon project, their validation and certification.

T V Ramachandra, Head Energy and Wetlands Research Group, IISc spoke on the Budgeting in Plantations of Central Western Ghats, while Ketan Patel, Director, Jalinga Tea Estate shared his experiences on going organic and emission reduction in the tea value chain.

N Anil Kumar, Senior Director, MSSRF spoke on the opportunities and the importance of carbon sequestration in the coffee sector. Tulika Biswas, Team Lead, Nature Based Solutions, WeAct Pty Ltd, Australia spoke about the carbon credit potential in forestry. Prem Shankar Prasad, Consultant, Mangalam Timber Plantations spoke on the corporate procedures to earn carbon credits from plantations. Ishwar Narayanan, Consultant, UNCCD spoke on the carbon markets for landscape restoration and biodiversity.