Indian Farming Enters the Carbon Credit Market With This Farmer’s Climate Friendly Measures

Kuldeep Singh Cheema was in his thirties when he took over the family farm in 2011. That is when he realized the problems associated with it which included depletion of groundwater, shortage of labor, increased use of artificial fertilizers, declining soil fertility among others. It dawned on him that drastic measures were the need of the hour to turn around the impending soil desertification. By 2019, Cheema had resolved the situation. He switched to the direct-seeded rice (DSR) method for the kharif season which allowed him to save enormous amounts of water needed to flood paddy fields. Additionally, removing the submerged paddy reduced methane emissions (produced by microorganisms in flooded fields). Cheema did not burn the stubble after harvesting it, as is customary in states like Punjab and Haryana, which degrades the quality of the air in the National Capital Region. Instead of tilling the ground, he spread the stubble out using a mulcher and planted wheat seeds using a seeder machine. The zero-till wheat contributed to the land's ability to hold onto natural carbon while also improving soil fertility and moisture through mulching. For Cheema, the new year is going to signal a fresh beginning. Cheema, along with many others, might get the first carbon credit given to Indian farmers by the middle of 2023. Carbon credits are payments made in exchange for putting climate-friendly policies into place that reduce carbon emissions. The credit earned by Cheema's actions could be offered for sale on the global voluntary carbon market (VCM). Companies can purchase these credits to offset their own carbon emissions. Cheema hopes that the carbon credits that he receives may serve as a motivation and an inspiration for farmers like him to adopt climate-friendly techniques.