Punjab and Haryana Farmers Set to Receive First Soil Carbon Payments

September 18, 2026

18 September 2026, New Delhi: More than 2,500 smallholder farmers in Punjab and Haryana are set to receive digital payments for adopting regenerative farming practices, marking the first reported instance in India of farmers being paid for carbon stored in their soil.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) process for 2,550 farmers from Punjab and Haryana was initiated by Dr M. L. Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, ICAR, at a programme organised at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana.

The payments are part of ‘Aadi’, a Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR. Under the programme, participating farmers adopted practices including Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), reduced tillage and crop residue management between 2019 and 2022.

The resulting greenhouse-gas reductions and increases in soil carbon were measured and independently verified before carbon credits were issued. The programme covers more than two million acres and over 100,000 farmers across seven states and has issued agricultural carbon credits under the Verra VM0042 methodology.

Carbon Credits Linked to Farm-Level Practices

The programme forms part of a broader transition towards regenerative agriculture in Punjab and Haryana, including crop residue management, water conservation and farming systems aimed at improving soil health and climate resilience.

ICAR institutions have contributed scientific and field expertise in areas including greenhouse-gas accounting, crop-simulation modelling, soil-sampling protocols, device validation, field-team training and satellite and remote-sensing approaches.

ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, has contributed to these processes, while Grow Indigo is also working with ICAR–Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Zone 1, to promote regenerative agriculture.

During his visits to Punjab under the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan and subsequent engagements with farmers and agricultural institutions, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has emphasised farmer-centric agricultural research and field-level adoption of sustainable technologies.

He has highlighted the importance of direct-seeded rice and residue-management practices. During his June 2025 visit to Punjab, he interacted with farmers and reviewed farming practices as part of the campaign.

Dr M. L. Jat said the initiative demonstrates how climate-smart farming practices, backed by scientific assessment and rigorous verification, can create additional income opportunities for smallholder farmers while contributing to water conservation and improved air quality.

He congratulated the participating farmers and acknowledged the contribution of ICAR institutions to the scientific framework supporting the initiative.

Programme Estimates Water and Emission Benefits

The carbon payments provide an economic incentive for practices that can also generate environmental benefits.

Direct Seeded Rice can reduce irrigation requirements compared with conventional transplanting, while improved crop-residue management can help reduce stubble burning and associated air pollution.

For enrolled fields during 2019–2022, the programme estimates savings of 45 billion litres of water and more than two lakh tonnes of crop residue kept out of fires, avoiding an estimated 1,000 tonnes of PM2.5 emissions.

Farmers are to be paid according to their share of the carbon credits generated from their fields.

Grow Indigo has released the payments digitally from its own funds before the credits were fully sold, allowing the payment process to begin without farmers having to wait for the sale proceeds.

Farmers could choose between an assured upfront payment and 75 per cent of the net carbon revenue after the credits were sold.

The first issuance covered around 30,000 acres and more than 50,000 carbon credits, with participating farmers set to receive approximately ₹3,000–₹15,000.

The payments follow a multi-year process of measurement and independent verification. Farmers who joined the programme after 2022 are part of the next monitoring cycle and will receive payments as their carbon credits are issued.

Dr Usha Barwale Zehr, Executive Director, Grow Indigo, described the payment as the first instance in India of farmers being paid for carbon stored in their soil. She also acknowledged the trust and patience of participating farmers during the scientific assessment and verification process.

Farmers Harinderjeet Gill of Nurpur Bet, Ludhiana, and Amandeep Kaur of Sangrur shared their experiences, highlighting the economic and environmental benefits associated with continuing regenerative practices and avoiding crop-residue burning.

Punjab Reports Decline in Farm-Fire Incidents

The initiative forms part of a wider agricultural transformation supported by ICAR, agricultural universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and State institutions.

Field-level experiences are providing a foundation for wider adoption of practices such as residue retention, minimum soil disturbance, DSR, diversified cropping, improved soil biology and efficient water use, with the objective of integrating sustainability and productivity in farming systems.

Punjab has also recorded a substantial decline in farm-fire incidents. According to Government data, Punjab recorded 5,114 farm-fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season, the lowest number since monitoring under the present framework began. This represented a 93 per cent reduction compared with 2021 and a 90 per cent reduction compared with 2022.

The Ransinh Kalan model in Moga, where the village maintained a 100 per cent residue-burning-free status across 1,310 acres for six consecutive years, further demonstrates the potential of sustained residue-management efforts.

BRICS Cooperation on Regenerative Agriculture

The development also comes against the backdrop of growing international cooperation on regenerative agriculture.

The 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting, held in Indore in June 2026 under India’s chairship, agreed to establish a BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture for Climate Resilience and Productivity. Initial coordination is being undertaken by ICAR–Indian Institute of Farming System Research (IIFSR), Modipuram.

The BRICS New Delhi Declaration, adopted in September 2026, subsequently welcomed the strengthening of cooperation through this network.

The Ludhiana initiative brings together farmer-focused agricultural research, ICAR’s Lab-to-Land approach through its research institutions, ATARIs and KVKs, and international cooperation on sustainable agricultural practices.

The programme also illustrates how measured and independently verified environmental outcomes can be linked with economic incentives at the farm level. For participating farmers, the carbon-credit mechanism provides an additional payment linked to changes in farming practices and the carbon outcomes measured on their fields.

Also Read: CropLife India Flags Narrowing Crop Protection Options for Farmers

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