India's Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare announced the country's first soil carbon payments, disbursing over ₹2.9 crore to more than 2,500 smallholder farmers in Punjab and Haryana through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). The payments were initiated by Dr M. L. Jat, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General of ICAR, at a program organized at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana.
The payments are part of the 'Aadi' Grow Indigo farmer carbon programme launched in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR. Farmers adopted regenerative practices including Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), reduced tillage, and crop residue management between 2019 and 2022. The resulting greenhouse gas reductions and soil carbon increases were measured and independently verified under the Verra VM0042 methodology before carbon credits were issued.
The programme covers more than two million acres and over 100,000 farmers across seven states, with this first issuance covering around 30,000 acres and generating more than 50,000 carbon credits. Participating farmers received payments ranging from approximately ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 based on their share of carbon credits generated from their fields. Grow Indigo released payments digitally from its own funds before the credits were fully sold, offering farmers a choice between an assured upfront payment and 75% of net carbon revenue after credit sales.
Environmental benefits from the enrolled fields during 2019-2022 include estimated 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. The practices also contribute to water conservation and improved air quality by reducing stubble burning.
ICAR institutions provided scientific and field expertise including greenhouse-gas accounting, crop-simulation modelling, soil-sampling protocols, device validation, field-team training, and satellite and remote-sensing approaches. Specific contributors included ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi and ICAR–Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Zone 1.
The initiative aligns with broader agricultural transformation efforts supported by ICAR, agricultural universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), and State institutions. Punjab has recorded a substantial decline in farm-fire incidents, with only 5,114 incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season—the lowest since monitoring began, representing a 93% reduction compared with 2021 and 90% reduction compared with 2022.
Internationally, the 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in Indore (June 2026) agreed to establish a BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture for Climate Resilience and Productivity, with initial coordination by ICAR–Indian Institute of Farming System Research (IIFSR), Modipuram. The BRICS New Delhi Declaration (September 2026) subsequently welcomed strengthened cooperation through this network.