- Why in news
- On 17 September 2026, ICAR's Director General initiated the first DBT soil carbon payments, over ₹2.9 crore to 2,550 farmers in Punjab and Haryana, at PAU Ludhiana.
- What it is
- Aadi is a farmer carbon programme run by Grow Indigo, a private firm, since 2019 with ICAR technical guidance. Farmers adopt regenerative practices such as direct seeded rice, reduced tillage and residue management. The resulting emission cuts and soil carbon gains are measured, independently verified, and issued as credits under the Verra VM0042 methodology.
- Programme
- Aadi is a Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with ICAR technical guidance.
- Methodology
- Credits are issued under Verra's VM0042 methodology, and the programme spans seven states.
- Practices
- Farmers adopted DSR, reduced tillage and crop residue management during 2019-2022.
- Payment options
- Farmers could choose an assured upfront payment or 75 per cent of net carbon revenue after sale.
- First issuance
- The first issuance covered about 30,000 acres and over 50,000 credits, with farmers getting roughly ₹3,000-₹15,000.
- Farm fires
- Punjab recorded 5,114 farm-fire incidents in the 2025 paddy season, 93 per cent fewer than in 2021.
Don’t confuse with Voluntary vs compliance carbon market: Verra credits sold by private firms belong to the voluntary market. India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme under the Energy Conservation Act is the compliance market.
Don’t confuse with DSR vs transplanting: Direct seeded rice sows seed directly and can cut irrigation needs. Conventional transplanting moves seedlings into puddled fields.
Environment: Prelims tests bodies, programmes and the law behind them; Mains asks why plans fall short.
Why it matters
- Gives smallholders extra income for climate-smart practices, linking measured environmental outcomes to payment.
- Can reduce stubble burning, water use and air pollution in the Punjab-Haryana belt.
Problems
- Small payments (₹3,000-₹15,000) and multi-year verification may weaken farmer incentive and trust.
- Soil carbon is hard to measure, may be reversible, and depends on a private firm's funding.
Way forward
- Build a national protocol for soil carbon measurement and verification, using ICAR institutions and remote sensing.
- Link agricultural credits to the domestic carbon market with fair, transparent benefit sharing for farmers.
Put in your answer
Farm-fire decline: Punjab recorded 5,114 farm fires in 2025, a 93 per cent fall from 2021, showing the effect of residue-management efforts.
Estimated co-benefits: For enrolled fields in 2019-2022, the programme estimates 45 billion litres of water saved.
- 2014Mains GS3 · Q13Whether carbon credits and CDM should continue despite falling credit value
- 2020Mains GS3 · Q13Factors behind rice-wheat system's success and why it became a bane
- 2020Prelims Q83Advantages of zero tillage, including soil carbon sequestration and direct paddy sowing
- 2021Prelims Q29Purpose of UNEP-supported Common Carbon Metric for carbon footprint assessment
- 2025Prelims Q36Statements on Direct Air Capture as carbon sequestration and synthetic fuel source
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
Prelims practice · Single answer
Ours, not from a UPSC paper
Consider the following statements about the 'Aadi' soil carbon programme in the news: 1. It is a Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR. 2. Its agricultural carbon credits have been issued under the Verra VM0042 methodology. 3. Farmers who chose the revenue-sharing option received the entire net carbon revenue after credits were sold. 4. The programme is confined to Punjab and Haryana. 5. Voluntary soil carbon credits like these are issued by the UNFCCC under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
True or false?
1 of 7
Statements the way Prelims prints them. Say first, then see the fact.
1.The Aadi programme is a Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR.
True. Aadi was launched in 2019 with ICAR technical guidance.
2.The agricultural carbon credits under the programme have been issued under the Verra VM0042 methodology.
True. Credits were issued under Verra VM0042.
3.Farmers who chose the revenue-sharing option received the entire net carbon revenue after credits were sold.
False. The revenue-sharing option gave 75 per cent of net carbon revenue.
4.The payments were released from Grow Indigo's own funds before the credits were fully sold.
True. Grow Indigo paid from its own funds ahead of credit sales.
5.The practices rewarded in the first payments were adopted between 2019 and 2022.
True. Practices were adopted in 2019-2022; later joiners are in the next cycle.
6.The programme is confined to Punjab and Haryana.
False. It covers over 100,000 farmers across seven states; only these first payments went to Punjab and Haryana.
7.Under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, such voluntary soil carbon credits are issued by the UNFCCC.
False. These are voluntary market credits verified under a private standard (Verra), not issued by the UNFCCC.
Written by us from the release, not by UPSC; checked by a second model.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.