Stressing that technological interventions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture sector would reduce the country’s total emissions, policy think tank ICRIER has suggested the PLI scheme to support manufacturing of PV solar panels should be extended to the manufacturers of agriculture-related products like feed additives for livestock, biofertilisers, nano fertilisers and climate resilient seed varieties which have the potential to reduce emissions.
In a study titled “Low Carbon Footprint Agriculture”, authored by Reena Singh, Ashok Gulati, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) said that total CH4 and N2O emissions from production of crops (include emissions related to rice cultivation, agriculture soils and residue burning) and livestock (include emissions related to EF and manure management) were estimated to be 490 tonnes (CO2 equivalent) in 2022-23.
After including the emissions related to electricity consumption in agriculture, the total agriculture emissions amounted to 688 tonnes CO2 eq. Of this, emissions from EF was 263 tonnes CO2 eq (38.23 per cent), followed by 178.9 tonnes (26.01 per cent) from electricity consumption in agriculture, 144 tonnes (20.93 per cent) from rice cultivation, 67.5 tonnes (9.8 per cent) from agriculture soil, 29.4 tonnes (4.22 per cent) from manure management and 13 tonnes (0.7 per cent from residue burning).
The study also has pointed out that fertiliser and power subsidies have led to inefficient use of urea, water and electricity with negative environmental consequences and higher GHG emissions. “These subsidies are skewed towards rice cultivation, which receives the highest subsidy (₹ 38,973 per hectare in Punjab during 2023-24) among all kharif crops, even though it is GHG intensive,” it said.
Suggesting that these incentives need to be “crop neutral” and “input neutral”, it recommends: “By shifting from price subsidy to income subsidy to farmers on per hectare basis either through direct cash transfer or coupons with varying input options (including low-carbon products), farmers can purchase the inputs as per their requirement (including micronutrient fertilisers) and choice (that include bio-inputs, vermicompost, etc).
The government has been working on a plan to shift fertiliser subsidy to be transferred directly to farmers from now been paid to companies through a coupon system. However, the plan is very slowly pursued as fertiliser is a politically sensitive commodity.
The ICRIER study also said that energy security for farmers needs to be secured through solar energy, which will ease financial stress on DISCOMS and reduce emissions. Diesel and electric pumps for ground water extraction emit 45.3–62.3 tonnes per year and these emissions can be mitigated by replacing them with solar pumps, though it will over-exploit ground water.
The authors have suggested the government not to replicate the GHG-intensive practices and crops, instead build toward improved low-carbon agricultural practices and crops without compromising yields and farmer’s income.
Roughly 130-150 tonnes CO2 eq can be mitigated from the agriculture sector though solar power and both the Centre and States should align existing natural farming, regenerative farming, organic farming and agriculture solarisation schemes to encourage farmers to participate in carbon credit programmes along with the associated organizations, it said.
Published on April 9, 2025
Stressing that technological interventions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture sector would reduce the country’s total emissions, policy think tank ICRIER has suggested the PLI scheme to support manufacturing of PV solar panels should be extended to the manufacturers of agriculture-related products like feed additives for livestock, biofertilisers, nano fertilisers and climate resilient seed varieties which have the potential to reduce emissions.
In a study titled “Low Carbon Footprint Agriculture”, authored by Reena Singh, Ashok Gulati, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) said that total CH4 and N2O emissions from production of crops (include emissions related to rice cultivation, agriculture soils and residue burning) and livestock (include emissions related to EF and manure management) were estimated to be 490 tonnes (CO2 equivalent) in 2022-23.
After including the emissions related to electricity consumption in agriculture, the total agriculture emissions amounted to 688 tonnes CO2 eq. Of this, emissions from EF was 263 tonnes CO2 eq (38.23 per cent), followed by 178.9 tonnes (26.01 per cent) from electricity consumption in agriculture, 144 tonnes (20.93 per cent) from rice cultivation, 67.5 tonnes (9.8 per cent) from agriculture soil, 29.4 tonnes (4.22 per cent) from manure management and 13 tonnes (0.7 per cent from residue burning).
The study also has pointed out that fertiliser and power subsidies have led to inefficient use of urea, water and electricity with negative environmental consequences and higher GHG emissions. “These subsidies are skewed towards rice cultivation, which receives the highest subsidy (₹ 38,973 per hectare in Punjab during 2023-24) among all kharif crops, even though it is GHG intensive,” it said.
Suggesting that these incentives need to be “crop neutral” and “input neutral”, it recommends: “By shifting from price subsidy to income subsidy to farmers on per hectare basis either through direct cash transfer or coupons with varying input options (including low-carbon products), farmers can purchase the inputs as per their requirement (including micronutrient fertilisers) and choice (that include bio-inputs, vermicompost, etc).
The government has been working on a plan to shift fertiliser subsidy to be transferred directly to farmers from now been paid to companies through a coupon system. However, the plan is very slowly pursued as fertiliser is a politically sensitive commodity.
The ICRIER study also said that energy security for farmers needs to be secured through solar energy, which will ease financial stress on DISCOMS and reduce emissions. Diesel and electric pumps for ground water extraction emit 45.3–62.3 tonnes per year and these emissions can be mitigated by replacing them with solar pumps, though it will over-exploit ground water.
The authors have suggested the government not to replicate the GHG-intensive practices and crops, instead build toward improved low-carbon agricultural practices and crops without compromising yields and farmer’s income.
Roughly 130-150 tonnes CO2 eq can be mitigated from the agriculture sector though solar power and both the Centre and States should align existing natural farming, regenerative farming, organic farming and agriculture solarisation schemes to encourage farmers to participate in carbon credit programmes along with the associated organizations, it said.
Published on April 9, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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