By Our Correspondent
Lucknow: The Yogi government is now connecting the farmers of the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070. With this, the government intends to increase the income of farmers by connecting them with the Carbon Finance Scheme. In the first phase, over 25,000 farmers have been linked to this scheme.
The objective of the scheme is to encourage farmers to earn additional income by planting trees in their fields along with farming. To realise PM Modi’s vision of net zero carbon emission, Uttar Pradesh has set a record this year by planting over 36 crore saplings, with a future target of planting more than 175 crore saplings over the next five years under the leadership of CM Yogi. Since 2017, the state has successfully planted over 200 crore saplings.
Highlights
- UP farmers to contribute to realising PM Modi’s vision of net zero carbon emission by the year 2070
- Carbon finance will become a means of additional income for farmers by planting trees alongside farming activities
- Farmers to earn Rs 250 to 350 per tree planted
- Yogi govt extends carbon finance facility in five divisions of the state in the first phase
- UP government will distribute approx Rs 202 crore among farmers for Carbon Emission Scheme
- Seven new divisions to be included in the second phase of the Carbon Emission Scheme
Notably, the state government efforts are linked to increasing the income of farmers through this scheme with the support of the Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) and VNV Advisory Service. In its initial phase, the scheme has engaged farmers from six divisions—Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, and Saharanpur—with 25,140 farmers committing to plant trees across 25,874 hectares of land.
The government has set a target of 42 lakh 19 thousand 369 carbon credits from these trees, for which an amount of Rs 202 crore has been fixed for the farmers. To achieve the set carbon credits, farmers are encouraged to plant fast-growing species such as poplar, melia dubia, and semal tree. The carbon credits will be purchased every five years at a rate of six US dollars per credit.
In the second phase of the scheme, seven new divisions will be included, in which farmers will be encouraged to plant trees in Devipatan, Ayodhya, Jhansi, Mirzapur, Kanpur, Varanasi and Aligarh divisions. Additionally, new farmers from the divisions included in the first phase will also be added in the second phase. In the third phase, the scheme will be extended to the remaining five divisions: Agra, Prayagraj, Azamgarh, Basti, and Chitrakoot.
