Farm Carbon Credits

Trees on farmland can earn carbon credits. VPA India owns and operates an aggregated Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) carbon project in which farmers who plant and maintain trees participate through local cluster managers. The project is registry-neutral and is developed, monitored and verified under the rules of the carbon registry selected for it. This page explains how farmers and cluster managers participate, and carries the two participation agreements.

Benefits under the project are calculated on trees verified as surviving and are paid out of the carbon revenue actually realised. They are not guaranteed or assured amounts.

How the project works

•     Farmers plant and maintain trees on their own land and join a local cluster run by a cluster manager.

•     The cluster manager onboards the farmers, keeps the records and supports monitoring; VPA India, the principal project proponent, develops and registers the project, arranges verification and monetises the carbon credits.

•     A registry-approved verification body checks tree survival at Year 5 and Year 10 from the agreement date. Benefits are calculated afresh on the trees verified as surviving at each event.

For farmers – Agreement B

What you do

•     Plant the agreed trees on your land and keep them healthy; do not fell, cut, burn or damage them, and do not change the land use, without prior written consent.

•     Allow monitoring visits, keep the trees identifiable (tagging / GPS), report any loss promptly and replant losses in the next planting season.

•     Assign the carbon rights from the trees to the project. The trees cannot be claimed under any other carbon scheme, so the carbon is never counted twice.

What you receive

•     Rs 12.50 per surviving tree at each verified monitoring event – Year 5 and Year 10 from your agreement date – within a 10-year payment period. There is no cap on the amount.

•     This is 50% of the per-tree benefit the cluster manager receives for your trees: you contribute the trees and the land, the manager contributes the project cost contribution, and the per-tree benefit is shared equally between you.

•     Payment is due within 90 days of the manager’s receipt of the audited monitoring report and the associated funds, subject to applicable tax.

•     The benefit is payable out of the carbon revenue actually realised and attributable to your trees, and is not a guaranteed or assured amount. No benefit is payable for trees not surviving or not verified at the relevant event.

Know before signing

•     Your duties on tree care, carbon rights, monitoring and no-double-counting continue for the whole permanence period required by the registry, which may extend for several decades – beyond the last payment.

•     A further agreement after the 10-year payment period is possible if the project’s crediting period is renewed, but it is not automatic and is not promised.

•     If you cannot read the agreement, it must be read over and explained to you in a language you understand before signing.

•     A farmer may also choose to participate as a cluster manager under Agreement A, with its contribution and entitlements, for the farmer’s own cluster.

For cluster managers – Agreement A

What you do

•     Onboard and manage a cluster of farmers under farmer agreements approved by VPA India; keep accurate records of farmers, land parcels, trees and survival; support monitoring and verification.

•     Pay each farmer Rs 12.50 per surviving tree out of your per-tree benefit. No assured, minimum or fixed amount may be represented to any farmer – prices, credit volumes and timing are uncertain.

What you contribute

•     Rs 1,00,000 per contribution block, each block covering up to 5,000 trees (for example, 15,000 trees = 3 blocks = Rs 3,00,000), payable on signing and on each later addition of trees.

•     The contribution is a contribution to project costs and is non-refundable. It is not a loan, deposit or investment, and it carries no guaranteed or assured amount. The entitlement it carries is the benefit-share below, which depends on actual project performance and realised carbon revenue.

What you receive

•     Contribution-linked benefit-share (Leg 1): up to twice the aggregate contribution (Rs 2,00,000 per block), paid only from the net carbon revenue attributable to your cluster. It is a target only and is not guaranteed; it first becomes payable from the first revenue realised after five years from the agreement date; it is a one-time ceiling, and any unpaid balance carries forward within the crediting period.

•     Per-tree benefit (Leg 2): Rs 25 per surviving tree at each verified monitoring event – Year 5 and Year 10 within the 10-year payment period – of which Rs 12.50 is paid onward to the farmer. There is no cap on the amount.

Risk acknowledgement in the agreement

•     ARR carbon revenue is back-loaded and typically arises only after several years of verified tree growth; carbon prices and demand are volatile; amounts may be delayed, reduced or, in adverse scenarios, not fully realised; the per-tree benefit depends entirely on actual, verified tree survival.

The documents

Read the full agreements before any decision. Both open in the browser and can be downloaded and saved.

Talk to us

Tell us your village and district, the land area, and the number of trees planted or planned – on WhatsApp or by call at +91 8905541120, or by email at inquiries@decarbonisation.expert.

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