DSR
Agriculture and allied sectors contribute to almost 25% of the GHG emissions globally. In the global south 500 million smallholder land stewards and farmers are seeing their livelihood threatened by soil erosion and climate change. This challenge is not yet addressed by the private sector. NGOs and governments lack the funding, skill, and execution capacity to move the needle. The voluntary carbon market can be part of the solution. Currently, there is a lack of scientific rigour and transparency when it comes to determining the increase of soil carbon and avoiding GHG due to change in practices. We solve this with our MRV technology . Another challenge is that currently often less than 10% of the carbon credit proceeds flow back to the land stewards. Rice is one of the world’s most important food crops. However, looming water scarcity and the water-intensive nature of rice cultivation threaten this critical supply component. In fact, 40% of the world’s irrigation water is utilised for rice production in a time where water supplies are becoming increasingly scarce. Compared to traditional methods, direct seeded rice (DSR) provides an efficient, sustainable rice production method that reduces both water consumption and the emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG). This also means less labor requirements and faster crop maturity, leading to increased productivity and profits for farmers. Varaha is a tech-enabled end-to-end project developer and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) company that aims to limit global warming and improve climate resilience through Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), such as direct seeded rice.
Climate And Environmental Technologies
Nature-based and nature-like technologies
18 Months
Our project has been implemented in several states of India like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Bihar, West Bengal, and Orissa as well as in Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya.
Despite the clear environmental and productivity benefits for farmers, many still adhere to traditional methods. Changing practices that have been ingrained for centuries requires significant education and outreach to demonstrate the benefits of DSR while also providing training to mitigate potential risks of DSR, such as seedbed preparation and weed control techniques. Furthermore, DSR can require upfront investment in equipment and seeds, making the transition challenging for some farmers who need access to financing. This is where Varaha's approach is different. Varaha incentivizes the transition to regenerative agriculture practices, such as DSR, by providing farmers with financial incentives, equipment, and knowledge. Our tech enables us to generate high-quality carbon credits, the revenue from which follows to farmers and our other implementation partners. Our MRV platform utilizes data science, agricultural modeling, satellite imagery, and software engineering to measure how DSR and other practices reduce GHG emission and GHG sequestration, creating high-quality carbon credits. Our approach has four steps: data collection, ground data validation, calibrated modeling, and GHG quantification. Firstly, primary data is collected by the field personnel of Varaha on the ground using a survey app. Varaha leverages remote-sensing ML models and GIS techniques to validate farmer practices on the ground. For calibrating our biogeochemical models, Varaha sets up experimental setups with glass gas chambers. Soil samples are also collected using stratified random sampling. Finally, Varaha estimates GHG emissions at the farm level using soil and gas samples, literature data, and climate data.
Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list Winner, Winners of Outcomes Accelerator announces Cohort 2, Madhur Jain, CEO & Co-Founder is a recipient of Henry Arnhold Fellowship 2023 from Mulago Foundation (Link: https://www.mulagofoundation.org/henry-arnhold-fellows/madhur-jain), Raised $8.7 Million, Part of the prestigious Milken Institute Global Conference 2024 (Link: https://milkeninstitute.org/events/a0c1u00000cf196uab/speakers/madhur-jain)
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