Boomitra says its Indian smallholder soil carbon project issued 47,311 credits, measured by satellite, under the Social Carbon standard

April 2025 — Boomitra and the Social Carbon Foundation said on Apr. 24, 2025 that the URVARA project in India had issued its first 47,311 soil carbon removal credits, verified across about 6,000 smallholder farmers on 25,000 acres. Here's what happened, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Apr. 24, 2025)

Outcome: 47,311 credits in the first issuance; 315,735 expected over 20 years, which the partners say makes it the largest project by volume on the Social Carbon Registry. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)
Cost: price and per-farmer payments not disclosed.
Scale: over 12,000 farmers on nearly 50,000 acres enrolled; about 6,000 are in this issuance. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)
Review: validation and verification completed in 45 days, the release says. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

What was issued

The URVARA name comes from the Sanskrit word for "fertile" and stands for Unlocking Resilience through Vital Agricultural Regeneration and Adaptation, the release says. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

The first issuance reflects regenerative practices adopted by over 6,000 farmers on 25,000 acres. Another 6,000 farmers are already onboarded for future issuances. The project spans six states and crops including cotton, soybeans, sugarcane, rice and bananas. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

Practices include reduced tillage, residue reincorporation, cover cropping and improved irrigation. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025) The partners say it is the first project in India to be registered and issue credits under Social Carbon's regenerative land management methodology. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

How it's measured

Boomitra uses satellite and AI-based measurement, reporting and verification, which the release says lets farmers with plots as small as one acre take part. The high cost of physical soil sampling has historically made that difficult, it says. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

The project review, covering validation and verification, was completed in 45 days by the Social Carbon Foundation through its new Social Carbon Portal, a central platform for documents and communications. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025) The credits are being issued through the Social Carbon Foundation registry after what the release calls a third-party verification process. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

Social Carbon describes itself as a nonprofit registered as a charity in the United Kingdom. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

Who said what

"This first issuance marks a major step in getting real income to smallholder farmers through climate finance," Boomitra CEO Aadith Moorthy said. "For too long, farmers doing the hard work of land restoration have been excluded from carbon markets." (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

Dr. Divaldo Rezende, co-chairman of the Social Carbon Foundation, said URVARA shows how standards that mandate nature and social co-benefits can give "access to carbon and nature asset finance to those at the bottom of the pyramid." (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

The release puts the average Indian agricultural household's income at ₹10,218 (about $122) a month and says India has over 93 million agricultural households, framing carbon payments as a new income stream. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

The partners also pitch the project as a supply-chain tool: they say farmers can gain premium prices for regeneratively grown, low-carbon crops, and companies can source climate-smart commodities. The release gives no examples of buyers or premiums. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)

What went wrong

Small volumes. 47,311 credits across 6,000 farmers is roughly eight credits per farmer, by our arithmetic from the release's figures. (Boomitra, Apr. 24, 2025)
No payment figures. The release doesn't say what farmers have been paid or what share of revenue they get, so the income claim can't be checked.
Certifier's own word. The only source is the developer and the certifier, and the 45-day review was conducted by the same foundation that runs the registry.
No accuracy data. The release gives no error margin for the satellite measurements against soil samples.
What we don't know yet: credit prices, buyers, and payments per farmer.

Our follow-up question for Boomitra

How much has each URVARA farmer been paid, and how are satellite estimates checked against soil samples?

Sources

Boomitra and Social Carbon Foundation, “Boomitra and Social Carbon Announce Landmark Soil Carbon Credit Issuance from Smallholder Farmers in India,” Apr. 24, 2025. boomitra.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder