11 Pilot Projects to Help Farmers Tap Carbon Credit Market: Govt

The Agriculture Ministry is supporting 11 pilot projects on the voluntary carbon market for credit generation in the sector, being implemented through seven ICAR institutes and four state agricultural universities, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

"These projects aim to facilitate technical support and capacity building of the participating institutions, including the development of methodologies for carbon credit generation from various regenerative agriculture practices," Minister of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The government has also published the draft Detailed Procedure for Programme of Activities (PoA) under the Offset Mechanism of the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS).

The PoA framework seeks to bring small and marginal farmers into the fold by allowing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), NGOs and project developers to aggregate multiple small-scale farm-level activities under a common umbrella for carbon credit generation, based on approved methodologies, the minister said.

The CCTS, 2023, notified under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, provides the overarching framework for developing India's domestic carbon market.

Under the Offset Mechanism of the CCTS, two methodologies have so far been approved for the agriculture sector -- "Methane Recovery from Livestock and Manure Management at Households and Small Farms" and "Emission Reduction through Improved Management Practices in Rice Cultivation".

These, along with the Detailed Procedure for the Offset Mechanism, lay down the framework for participation in carbon credit generation.

However, Thakur noted that no assessment has been carried out so far on the potential for income generation for farmers through carbon credit mechanisms.