Key Details
The first payment cycle shows how verified changes in farm practices can be converted into carbon credits and additional income for participating farmers.
Indicator | Position reported |
|---|---|
Farmers receiving payments | 2,550 in Punjab and Haryana |
Total payment | More than ₹2.9 crore |
Individual payments | Approximately ₹3,000–₹15,000 |
Programme | Aadi, launched by Grow Indigo in 2019 |
Practices covered | Direct-seeded rice, reduced tillage and crop-residue management |
First credit issuance | More than 50,000 credits covering around 30,000 acres |
Revenue options | Assured upfront payment or 75% of net carbon revenue after sale |
Wider programme enrolment | More than 100,000 farmers across two million acres in seven states |
The credits were issued using the Verra VM0042 methodology, which covers greenhouse-gas reductions and increased carbon storage from improved agricultural land management.
Verified Outcomes Generate the Payment
Participating farmers changed cultivation practices between 2019 and 2022. The resulting reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions and increases in soil carbon were measured and independently verified before credits were issued.
Each farmer’s payment reflects their share of the credits generated from enrolled fields. Grow Indigo used its own funds to make the initial payments before all the credits were sold, preventing farmers from having to wait for carbon-market transactions to conclude.
This distinguishes the initiative from a conventional agricultural subsidy: payment depends on a measured environmental result rather than adoption of a practice alone.
Carbon Revenue Is One Part of the Farm-Level Benefit
Direct-seeded rice can require less irrigation than transplanted paddy, while retaining or managing crop residue can reduce field burning. For the fields enrolled during 2019–2022, the programme estimates:
45 billion litres of water saved;
more than two lakh tonnes of residue kept out of fires; and
about 1,000 tonnes of PM2.5 emissions avoided.
These are programme estimates relating to enrolled fields, rather than measured outcomes for the entire two-million-acre programme. They nevertheless show why agricultural carbon projects can connect farm income, groundwater conservation, air quality and climate mitigation.
ICAR Provides the Scientific and Extension Link
ICAR institutions have supported greenhouse-gas accounting, soil-sampling protocols, crop modelling, equipment validation, field-team training and remote-sensing methods. ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute contributed scientific expertise, while ICAR–Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone 1, is working with Grow Indigo on field-level adoption.
This public–private arrangement separates several functions:
Farmers change practices → scientific institutions support measurement → independent verification establishes the carbon outcome → credits are issued and sold → farmers receive a share of the value
Farmers who joined after 2022 remain in later monitoring cycles and will become eligible for payment only when the corresponding credits are issued.
What Is a Soil-Carbon Credit?
A soil-carbon credit represents a verified reduction or removal of greenhouse gases associated with changes in land management. In farming, credits may arise from storing additional carbon in soil or reducing emissions from cultivation practices.
Generating a credit requires more than adopting a new technique. The project must establish a baseline, measure the change, demonstrate that it would not otherwise have occurred, address the risk that stored carbon may later be released, and obtain independent verification.
Policy Relevance
This first payment cycle demonstrates feasibility, not yet scale. Three issues will determine whether the model can work for a wider range of farmers:
Measurement cost: Soil sampling, monitoring and verification can consume a significant share of revenue, particularly where small and fragmented holdings are involved.
Revenue transparency: Farmers need clear information on credit volumes, sale prices, deductions and the calculation of their share—especially under the option offering 75% of net revenue.
Durability of benefits: Future programmes must clarify how long practices must be maintained, who bears the risk if stored carbon is lost, and whether payments remain attractive once upfront project support ends.
Carbon revenue can supplement the benefits of water conservation, lower input use and residue management. Its reliability as a recurring source of farm income will depend on credit prices, verification cycles and farmers’ ability to maintain the required practices.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What disclosure and benefit-sharing standards are needed to ensure that smallholders can verify how their carbon credits are calculated, sold and converted into payments?
Follow the Full Update Here: India’s First Soil Carbon Payments Put Farmers at the Centre of Regenerative Agriculture