Over ₹2.9 crore to be disbursed for regenerative farming practices
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 17: More than 2,500 farmers in Punjab and Haryana are set to receive over ₹2.9 crore in digital payments for adopting regenerative farming practices, in what the Union government has described as India’s first soil-carbon payments to farmers.
The first payments were released at a programme held at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, where Dr M. L. Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), initiated Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) to 2,550 farmers.
The payments link verified improvements in soil carbon and reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions with direct financial benefits to participating farmers.
Farmers adopted climate-smart practices
The payments are part of ‘Aadi’, a Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR.
Between 2019 and 2022, participating farmers adopted practices including Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), reduced tillage and crop-residue management. The resulting greenhouse-gas reductions and increases in soil carbon were measured and independently verified before carbon credits were issued.
The programme currently 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.
Payments linked to carbon credits
Farmers are being paid according to their share of the carbon credits generated from their fields.
Grow Indigo released the payments digitally from its own funds before the credits were fully sold, allowing farmers to receive the money without waiting for 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 receiving approximately ₹3,000 to ₹15,000.
Farmers who joined the programme after 2022 are part of the next monitoring cycle and will receive payments as their carbon credits are issued.
Programme reports water and air-quality benefits
According to the programme, the enrolled fields between 2019 and 2022 generated estimated savings of 45 billion litres of water and kept more than two lakh tonnes of crop residue out of fires, avoiding an estimated 1,000 tonnes of PM2.5 emissions.
DSR can reduce irrigation requirements compared with conventional rice transplanting, while improved residue management can help reduce stubble burning and associated air pollution.
Dr M. L. Jat said the initiative demonstrated how climate-smart farming practices supported by scientific assessment and verification could create additional income opportunities for smallholder farmers while contributing to water conservation and improved air quality.
ICAR institutions provide scientific support
ICAR institutions have contributed to 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, contributed to the scientific processes, while Grow Indigo is also working with ICAR–Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Zone 1, to promote regenerative agriculture.
The initiative also involves agricultural universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and State institutions.
Focus on wider adoption of regenerative agriculture
The programme is supporting wider adoption of practices such as residue retention, minimum soil disturbance, DSR, diversified cropping, improved soil biology and efficient water use.
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 and acknowledged the participation of farmers during the multi-year scientific assessment and verification process.
Farmers Harinderjeet Gill of Nurpur Bet, Ludhiana, and Amandeep Kaur of Sangrur also shared their experiences of adopting regenerative practices and avoiding crop-residue burning.
Punjab records decline in farm-fire incidents
The initiative comes amid a reported decline in farm-fire incidents in Punjab.
According to government data cited in the release, Punjab recorded 5,114 farm-fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season, the lowest number since monitoring under the present framework began. The figure 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, was also cited as an example of sustained residue-management efforts.
BRICS cooperation on regenerative agriculture
The development also comes amid greater international cooperation on sustainable 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 of the network is to be undertaken by ICAR–Indian Institute of Farming System Research (IIFSR), Modipuram. The BRICS New Delhi Declaration, adopted in September 2026, subsequently welcomed strengthened cooperation through the network.
The Ludhiana initiative combines field-level agricultural research, ICAR’s Lab-to-Land approach and financial incentives linked to independently verified environmental outcomes.
The government said the model demonstrates how carbon markets can connect measurable environmental outcomes with additional income opportunities for farmers while supporting resource conservation, climate resilience and sustainable agricultural production.
