On Monday, nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, claimed to be the first firm in India to generate and forward-sell agricultural-related carbon credits. 20,000 carbon credits for methane reduction have been generated by the company's alternate wetting and drying and dry seeded rice (AWD-DSR) project.
The AWD-DSR project, which employed 2,500 small-holder farmers and covered 22,000 acres of paddy fields, is an important aspect of nutrure.farm's objective is to transition farmers to sustainable agricultural techniques and decrease the environmental effect of rice cultivation. The project's benefits comprised water savings of 15-30%, according to a statement from the firm.
Another 1.2 lakh carbon credits are being processed through crop residue management (CRM), a programme that has enabled over 25,000 farmers to prevent 4.2 lakh acres of farmland from being burned, resulting in the avoidance of 2,135 tonnes of particulate matter, including PM 2.5 and PM 10.
Validation of AWD-DSR Programme
The AWD-DSR programme is now being submitted to a worldwide validation agency and will be submitted to the Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) in two quarters for final verification and credit generation. The CRM programme will follow suit, with submission to the validation agency scheduled for the third quarter.
Nurture.farm increased the AWD-DSR programme to an additional 1.2 lakh acres during the rabi cropping season, and the firm hopes to generate more carbon credits by extending its programmes further. In 2022, nurture.farm's CRM project will span at least one million acres, while its AWD-DSR project will expand to 1.8 lakh acres.
According to Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head, and COO, India is ideally positioned to pioneer agricultural-related carbon credit trading.
"As the first agriculture company in India to effectively produce and forward-sell carbon credits, we are opening up new possibilities and results for farming communities." Demand for reliable carbon credits from voluntary carbon markets has the potential to induce huge changes to sustainable agriculture practices. We are excited to collaborate with additional agricultural communities this year as we expand our CRM and AWD-DSR initiatives to help farmers become more resilient by ensuring higher yields, greater soil health, and improved livelihoods," Sawhney added.
Nurture.farm To develop Protocols For Standardized Approach
Nurture.farm is presently creating protocols for certifying traceable carbon credits via its online platform, and it will employ blockchain technology to trade credits on carbon markets.
In 2022, nurture.farm will also build a single carbon credits registry and trading platform that will use a standardized approach to ease traceability and make verification easier, according to the business.
