Published: Kurukshetra, May 2026

The issue’s most exam-rich chapter treats carbon as a potential cash crop: if farming practices that cut emissions can be measured and verified, farmers can sell the reduction as credits, stacking climate income on top of crop income.

Where Farm Emissions Come From

  • Agriculture contributes about 18 percent of global carbon emissions
  • Within agricultural emissions: enteric fermentation in livestock accounts for 53 percent, rice cultivation 17 percent

That makes rice and livestock the two big mitigation frontiers for India.

Climate-Smart Rice

Practice Effect
Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Cuts methane from flooded paddies; reduces water use 15-20 percent
Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) Skips transplanting and continuous flooding; cuts methane and labour

How the Market Works

  • 1 carbon credit = 1 metric tonne of CO2 equivalent removed or avoided
  • The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) runs on third-party verification; the leading global standards are Verra (VCS) and Gold Standard
  • Agroforestry is India’s proven model: poplar-based systems in Punjab and Haryana are credited with storing millions of tonnes of CO2e
  • The domestic Green Credit Programme rewards tree plantation on degraded land, a parallel non-market incentive

Mains Angle

Critical analysis: carbon income favours large, organised farms; smallholders face high measurement-reporting-verification (MRV) costs, long payout cycles and contract opacity. Without aggregation through FPOs and SHGs, carbon markets could reproduce the very inequities they promise to ease. Way forward: public MRV infrastructure (remote sensing baselines), model contracts in Indian languages, FPO-level aggregation, and aligning VCM projects with the CCTS so domestic and international credits do not cannibalise each other.

📌 Facts Corner — Knowledgepedia

Emissions:

  • Agriculture: ~18 percent of global carbon emissions
  • Within agri: enteric fermentation 53 percent; rice cultivation 17 percent

Market mechanics:

  • 1 carbon credit = 1 tCO2e; top verifiers: Verra (VCS), Gold Standard
  • AWD and DSR cut paddy methane; AWD saves 15-20 percent water

India instruments:

  • Green Credit Programme (plantation on degraded land)
  • Punjab-Haryana poplar agroforestry: millions of tonnes CO2e stored

Sources: Kurukshetra / Publications Division, PIB