ASHENEWS reports that 2,500 Farmers in four local government areas of Niger state have been earmarked to benefit from carbon credits as a means of improving their revenue.
Addressing farmers in Minna during a sensitization meeting called by the Niger state chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) for the 2024 wet season farming, the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Mathew Ahmed has disclosed that the state government is partnering with a private organization to train farmers on how they can benefit from carbon credits.
He said that the farmers would only be able to benefit from the carbon credits if they can attract carbon into the soil on their farms adding that they would be trained on practices that will attract carbon to the soil.
“We are partnering with Enovos company with four local governments, Paikoro, Wushishi, Bosso and Mokwa under carbon credit. Carbon credit is going to be free money given to farmers because they can attract carbon into the soil.
“We will train 2,500 farmers across these 4 local governments on maintaining practices for their soil to absorb carbon.
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“These farmers we are going to work with within these four local governments, we would go and take their soil samples, analyse their carbon credit and they will continue to maintain these agricultural practices. After some time, we will return, measure and analyse their soil. If there is an increase in carbon content in their soil, this company will pay the farmers because their soil is absorbing carbon.”
Ahmed said that there are monies collected annually from companies emitting carbon monoxide which are lying idle somewhere stressing that it is time for Niger farmers to benefit from such monies.
What is Carbon Credit?
A carbon credit is a tradable commodity, which gives the holder of carbon credit to emit 1 tonne of CO2 or an equivalent of other Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
Carbon credits are created by the governing organization and allocated to individual companies within that jurisdiction. A single credit represents one tonne of CO2e (or carbon dioxide equivalent) that a company is allowed to emit. Carbon credits, often referred to as carbon allowances, can be thought of as a unit of measurement.
How does a carbon credit work?
Carbon credits are financial instruments where the buyer pays another company to take some action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and the buyer gets credit for the reduction.
How much is one Carbon Credit worth?
One carbon credit has a monetary value on the compliance and voluntary carbon markets of $40 to $80, on average.
However, this can be expected to fluctuate greatly with supply and demand, which is also fueled by regulations.
Landowners and farmers can explore this opportunity to generate revenue by selling carbon credits through carbon farming and sequestration processes.
