Carbon Incentives, Plans, and Policies in Agriculture

Economic incentives intended to catalyze environmentally responsible behavior have assumed a central role in confronting climate change, food insecurity, and natural resource degradation. Notwithstanding their promise, many programs underperform owing to methodological gaps, limited transparency, and insufficient regulatory oversight. Carbon Incentives, Plans, and Policies in Agriculture undertakes a critical appraisal of these constraints and advances evidence‑based propositions for strengthening carbon credit mechanisms across agricultural systems and value chains. The volume assembles a globally diverse authorship to synthesize emergent strategies and forward trajectories in carbon financing and monetization, green accounting, ecological and environmental economics, and carbon credit trading, while situating these within the broader sustainability imperatives of agroecosystems. Distinctive emphasis is placed on measurement and methodological rigor, including quantification protocols, MRV frameworks, and domain‑specific estimation approaches for soils, croplands, grasslands, and agroforestry, together with field-level interventions (e.g., energy and water use efficiency, best management practices, and green manuring) and technological enablement (notably, AI-supported assessment). Integrating scientific, policy, and economic perspectives, this book furnishes a conceptual and operational foundation for scholars, researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers seeking to design effective, transparent, and equitable governance and planning protocols for a low‑carbon agricultural transition.

Dr. Ram Swaroop Meena was born into a farming family and is working in the Department of Agronomy at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. With an excellent academic background, he has been elected a fellow of several academies, including the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), the National Academy of Biological Sciences (NABS), the Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA), and the Society for Rapeseed-Mustard Research (SRMR). The Ministry of Education has also awarded him the Raman Fellowship for the USA under World Food Prize Laureate Prof. Rattan Lal, and he was an INSA visiting scientist at ISARC-IRRI (IRRI South Asia Regional Center-The International Rice Research Institute). Additionally, he has been listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists for his research impact. He has guided PhD and master’s students and completed 10 externally funded projects from IRRI, The ‘Institute of Eminence’ (IoE)-Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Department of Science and Technology (DST), The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Education (MOE), The Government of India (GOI). He has published books, at an international level (Springer, Elsevier, etc.). He has made significant research contributions to natural resource management and to farm and industrial waste recycling for soil health. Dr. Meena's research evaluates energy flow, atmospheric CO₂ capture, carbon credit and auditing, and eco-friendly techniques for a sustainable food system and soil regeneration, as evidenced by high-impact publications and extension work at the farmer level. His work is crucial for understanding the long-term stability of soil carbon, which enhances soil microbial and nutrient dynamics in rice-based diversified cropping systems. He trained farmers from the Deep Forest Tribe to adopt climate-smart practices to secure their livelihoods under the DST-SEED grant project. Dr. Meena has also contributed to agricultural extension activities in villages designated under the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India's initiative. His future work aims to reduce soil organic carbon oxidation and enhance its stability in agroecosystems, enabling farmers to benefit from carbon credits and generate additional income.

Dr. Manoj Kumar Jhariya is a senior assistant professor in the Department of Farm Forestry at Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya, Sarguja, Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India. His research focuses on forest ecology, agroforestry, natural resource management and sustainability, and carbon sequestration. Dr. Jhariya was listed among the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier in 2023, 2024, and 2025, thanks to his extensive publishing activities (Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, Apple Academic Press, Taylor & Francis, CRC, etc.). Dr. Jhariya holds a BSc in Agriculture, an MSc in Forestry, and a PhD in Forestry from Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is a life member of numerous professional societies, including the Indian Science Congress Association, the Applied and Natural Science Foundation, the Society for Advancement of Human and Nature, the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Association of India, the ISDS Society, the International Journal of Development and Sustainability, the Asia Society of Researchers, the Agriculture Forum for Technical Education of Farming Society, the Society of Green Development (India), the National Academy of Biological Sciences (India), the Society for Science and Climate Change and Sustainable Environment, and the Indian Society of Agroforestry. Currently, Dr. Jhariya is working on carbon incentives and green economy, agroforestry-based land restoration, quality planting materials in forestry, non-timber forest products’ utilization and value addition, and the application of underutilized plants in land restoration.

Dr. Arnab Banerjee is an associate professor in the School of Studies in Environmental Science, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. He completed an MSc and a PhD (environmental science) from Burdwan University, Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India, and MPhil (environmental science) from Kalyani University, Kalyani, West Bengal, India. He was awarded the University Gold Medal for securing first place with first-class honors in the MSc examination. He has also received the Young Scientist Award for best oral presentation at an international conference held at the University of Burdwan. He was a project fellow under a UGC sponsored major research project. He is a life member of the Academy of Environmental Biology. He has supervised postgraduate students and is engaged in postgraduate teaching and research, alongside publishing books, book chapters, and research articles in reputed national and international journals.

Dr. Sandeep Kumar was born into a farming family in the village of Jaswantpura, Rajgarh (Churu), Rajasthan, India. He joined the Agricultural Research Services (ARS) in 2020 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Regional Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Currently, he is a scientist (agronomy) at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Regional Station, Karnal, Haryana, India. Dr. Kumar completed his schooling in his native village and earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture (Hons.) in 2013 from the College of Agriculture, Lalsot, SKRAU, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. He completed his master’s degree from BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and his PhD in agronomy from Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India, with a specialization in nutrient management in grain legumes. Throughout his academic career, he secured first division and qualified for the ICAR-NET three times, in addition to receiving prestigious SRF fellowships from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. His areas of expertise include improving resource-use efficiency in conservation agriculture-based rice–wheat systems, cropping system diversification, carbon sequestration, and carbon credits for sustainable crop production. A prolific author and editor, Dr. Kumar has received several accolades, including the Land 2020 Best Paper Award from MDPI and Wiley’s Top Cited Article Award for 2022–2023. He was also honored with the Best Young Scientist Award (Regional Station) for 2024–2025 by ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. Dr. Kumar is actively engaged in teaching postgraduate and PhD students at the IARI–IIWBR Mega Hub, Karnal, Haryana, India. He also plays a key role in institutional development and resource generation initiatives. His future research goals focus on soil carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation, carbon credit generation, regenerative agriculture, and low-emission technologies in a systems-based approach.