VCS2590 - Regenerative Agriculture in Rice-Wheat-Maize System for Income Generation

 Project Developer: Grow Indigo

The Rice-Wheat-Maize system in North-West India accounts for a significant portion of the food supply in the country. Depletion of underground water, declining fertility status associated with multiple nutrient deficiencies, increased concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere owing to soil methanogenesis from rice cultivation and burning of rice residues are some of the end results of the intensive system. Thus, there is a challenge to balance the food production and sustainability goals simultaneously.

Recent advancements in regenerative agriculture methods improve environmental outcomes without negatively impacting yields. However, agronomic, and socio-economic factors such as access to agro-advisory and the cost of technology adoption remain a crucial barrier to adopting regenerative agriculture practices. By linking smallholder farmers to carbon marketplaces, this project aims to overcome these critical barriers to adoption by enabling additional income opportunities.

The project will cover the states Punjab, Haryana, and the adjoining National Capital Region (NCR), and primarily focus on the Rice - Wheat - Maize cropping system, without excluding other crops, with regenerative agricultural practices that are known to reduce GHG emissions and thus generate carbon credits by way of CO2e and SOC.

With a cash incentive, the smallholder farmers in the project boundary will adopt these practices more readily and contribute to sustainability and reduce GHG emissions. A voluntary carbon marketplace for carbon credits, for the first time will create income opportunities for smallholder farmers in India via this project.

Project registry link.