Agriculture

Agroforestry, a farming system where trees are grown alongside crops, has the potential to help achieve multiple development objectives. It can help coffee farms combat climate change by acting as carbon sinks. Beyond reducing carbon emissions, agroforestry helps shield coffee plants from heat and heavy rains, increasing resilience to climate change. Further, products of agroforestry can provide important independent income stream to farmers facing extreme poverty.

This project assesses the impact of in-situ rice straw incorporation using a rotavator on improving soil health, specifically through enhanced soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. Smallholder farmers in Odisha, India, heavily rely on kharif-season (rainfed) paddy cultivation. This intervention evaluates how straw incorporation into the soil after harvest can improve soil health and enhance carbon sequestration over multiple growing seasons. 

Air pollution is a major health concern in many Indian cities exposing millions of people to extremely toxic air. Stubble burning is a major contributor to air pollution in northern parts of India, where it accounts for up to 40% of air pollution [SAFAR, 2019]. After conducting a pilot randomised controlled trial in August 2022 with 205 farmers, researchers finds that providing information and bio-decomposers to farmers reduced burning by 29% in comparison to control group farmers.