Many responses here talked about incentives for the farmers to do this. Here is another program which seems to execute them right.
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Thanks @Mari for the tag and apologies for the delayed response @NithinKamath. A mota-moti overview of the finances and T&Cs for how our current project works are as follows:
- Project is implemented over 1000 hectares or ~2400 acres
- ~400 to 420 trees are planted / acre on unused or degraded agricultural land and gram panchayat land
- Land division presently is about 80% agricultural land and 20% gram panchayat land
- In the case of farmer land - 3 primary fruit or bamboo species of the farmer’s choice are planted for 400 trees; the remaining 15-20 trees are wild, native trees for nitrogen fixing (Karanj, Hadga) or for overall biodiversity & soil health - for example Bael, Kawath, Kokum the numbers of which are declining in Maharashtra
- Int he case of GP land = 50-70% of the trees planted are wild, non-commerical species based on the soil type, water availability, climatic conditions, etc
- The upfront cost / acre = ~Rs. 55,000 to Rs. 60,000 assuming nothing is paid for water (like borewell digging or other waterworks) and electricity costs
- The 55K to 60K estimate includes cost of soil testing, GPS mapping, drone orthomosaics, organic fertilizer / compost, saplings, some amount of land prep and plantation efforts and a drip irrigation system and our staff costs for identifying the land and doing all the paperwork for gathering the data needed for the carbon project and the training and onboarding of community members needed for an agroforestry carbon project
- Out of the 55K to 60K cost, between 3K to 6K is borne by the farmer and the rest comes either from philanthropic support or connection with government schemes like MGNREGA where possible
- Overall the cost for a 1000 Hectare project where roughly 10 lakh trees are being planted thus comes about to be about $2 million or roughly Rs. 150 to Rs. 160 per tree, which also includes the carbon asset development costs (like writing the project design document, paying the carbon standard, paying the auditor, etc)
- Over a 20 year period, on an average we can estimate that conservatively 22 tonnes of carbon would be sequestered per year per hectare including above ground, below ground and soil carbon - making the total carbon sequestered over the 20 year period 1000 x 22 x 20 = 440,000 tonnes
- Assuming we can sell each credit conservatively for $30 (given this is a high quality project with biodiversity and community benefits), the total revenue will be $13.2 million over a 20 year
- Of this 70% is transferred to the farmer and 30% is kept by F4F to cover our operating costs and also to invest in new projects. So per acre, per year we can estimate that the farmer gets ($13.2 million / 2400 / 20)*0.7 = $192.5 x 80 = Rs. 15,400 / acre / year
- Again conservatively we are assuming that the farmer will be able to make a profit of Rs. 60,000 / acre / year from the sale of agroforestry produce (as per our surveys with farmers they are making as much Rs. 1.5 lakh / acre / year in a good year but assuming a couple of years of harvest are lost due to pest attacks, extreme weather events or market fluctuations). So in total (carbon revenue + profit from agroforestry produce) we are, conservatively looking at the farmers getting profit of Rs. 75,000 / acre / year
If the entire upfront cost of the project is financed by a carbon financier as opposed to philanthropy + government, we can look at the farmers getting 10 to 20% of the overall carbon revenue as opposed to 60 to 70%.
After several experiments, this financing and implementation model seems to be the most scalable from an agroforestry perspective. However, we are still continuing to learn new things and are trying to refine the model further.
This model is also heavily dependent on being able to accurately measure how many and what type of trees are present on each farmers land (so that payments are transferred to farmers accordingly), which we are able to do with a good amount of accuracy by modifying the open source algorithm Deep Forest and using 3cm resolution drone orthomosaics. The DEM from the drone is also able to provide a height of the tree and help us count really small trees as well (even as small as 2 to 3 feet in height)
Sample drone orthomosaic:
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This is brilliant, massive clarity of thoughts! Is there any way, we can check lives images or development of these trees? Or can you please upload a few more images (More will be good), love to see them!
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@Suman_Jile - we are in the process of putting up all of this data and learnings on our website soon. This is the beta version with dummy numbers: Afforestation. We will be putting up the time series data on changes in soil, carbon sequestered, drone orthomosaics, biodiversity, farmer income and employment generated around the ecological restoration work. We anticipate being able to put it up in the next 6 months or so, as soon as we have the consent of our program participants in place to share this data more widely and consistently.
Sharing a few more images as requested:
Calculating tree heights:
Sample Drone Ortho 2:
Sample Drone Ortho 3:
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Thanks, @Krutika, this is very nice. 
I think a project like this needs to get on the social stock exchange. This is something the junta will easily be able to relate to. Have you thought about this?
I will share this link with Hemant, who is heading BSE social stock exchange, and ask him to comment on his thoughts.
By the way, @Mari, I would love to speak to Krutika and the Farmers for forests team whenever possible. Maybe we can invite them to our office? @Pai @Somnath + +
Done, Nithin. I will speak to Krutika and schedule this.
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Thanks, @Krutika - these are beautiful! Now, I want to see these plantations with my eye. And that uncovers an invisible revenue stream for locals (How?).
If we create a powerful narrative of such projects and highlight all the benefits (visible, invisible, long-term, short-term) for all the stakeholders, curiosity might drive people to visit these places (because most of the data would be one click away). I am definitely not talking about eco-tourism.
I am not sure how old this project is but as much progress I can analyze through these images - we can create a bloody powerful narrative that can drive a massive mind-shift.
@Krutika, one suggestion - add a navigation button so people like me, if they would like to visit and see, can plan their visit.
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@NithinKamath - we’d not actually considered the SSE at all. We’ll definitely look into it! Will coordinate with @Mari and @Pai for a meeting. Thank you so much for inviting us 
@Suman_Jile - thank you so much! we had not thought about visits, but this is something we can check with our community.
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@NithinKamath Listing such projects on SSE is a great idea, something we at SayTrees are considering in the near future. We had a brief discussion with Rang De on this as well.
Nithin hi,
In my earlier corporate avatar, I used to have the same question when peering out of window seats! In the last 12 years after shedding the suit and embarking on a tree planting journey that has helped small and marginal farmers plant and nurture over 30 million trees across 15 states of India, my understanding is as follows:
- Planting is easy - nurturing the saplings, especially through the dry season is tough.
- Ask any old farmer what was the lay of the land when he was a child - across India the answer is - jungle.
- Ask him did it rain heavily in those days - invariably the answer is yes!
- If you ask him why did the jungles get cut - the answer always is - to create more farmland for the expanded families!
- Now that farmers have smaller holdings - by division because of expanded families - regular cropping is becoming unviable and unsustainable. Hence many leave their lands barren or rent it out for a meager sum while eeking out a living doing some menial jobs in nearby places.
The possible way out is an agroforestry model which we have over the last many years of imbibing local farming wisdom and tinkering with some “no chemical usage” science, have more or less perfected. Farm yields can go up to 1.5 to 2 Lakhs per acre, good enough to manage a decent living while enjoying the benefits of one’s own community and stress and disease-free countryside.
The one issue that needs to be worked upon is the classic chicken or egg conundrum - do we need a water source before we start planting)?
How do we ensure water in the dry season till the trees grow big enough to self-sustain and draw/ produce rain?
There are answers, the community coming together to dig small ponds and wells. funded interventions to create larger ponds and check-dams, we have had multiple successes and an equal number of failures.
The 3-point formula that we have concluded is - make water available, get the farmer enthused and back in the land with small interventions like growing gainful vegetables - beneficial in many ways including land fertility, mulch for the trees planted, water retention, biodiversity, income, and nutrition, (when larger numbers get added - design and fund evacuation plans for the produce), plant a mix of fruit and timber trees, constant interaction and motivation to make the farmer proud of his contribution to society and humanity at large.
Hope this helps, happy to answer queries.
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Interesting discussions. I guess the topic is not about planting on empty private lands but government lands and forests etc. As rightly pointed above, this happens via nature itself. On why there is not much green cover itself, one has to understand that in the villages any unfenced land is understood to be free for grazing - be it an absentee land owner, forest, or government property. If it is edible, the livestock will consume it heartily since it is their grazing land
So, the key would be to use
the plants/trees which are not grazed upon - pongamia for example
the plants which do not need upkeep, grow fast, and are native
time it right, have the seeds ready
All of these are wonderfully managed naturally and you don’t need to get the above right. We should understand that up until recently older women would gather seeds of neem/pongamia and sell them to earn an additional income. We have had people/institutions buying these to make oil etc., and then we have another set of institutions trying to buy these same seeds and make seedballs and then spreading them around. Quite tragicomic. It is important to converge efforts, easier said than done.
For example, I have seen
naturally growing aloe vera being procured at 10 paise per plant
neem/pongamia seeds are procured at 10-15 rupees per kilo
There are traditions woven into these practices too. Mahua/hippe seeds would be used as lamp oil and would be collected and used in the village temples and the extra in households…
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there’s another angle to this… has anyone considered the track record of planting the wrong trees in the wrong place & this defeats climate goals and wastes funds…
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we are doing this on empty private lands of farmers , started with 100 acres in Maharashtra Nashik district 04 blocks , programme is called Regenerative food forests. only samplings are provided , fencing , composting , watering needs to be taken care by farmers.
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Ground water recharge, is one of of the many aspects for tree plantations
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Tree should be looked at as a standing column of water, 80% of tree is water. Without building dams and reservoirs we can plant trees, they serve the same purpose. The capital we are spending money on some check dams, and reservoirs should be moved to tree plantations.
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Microclimate created by tree integration in the hedges and bunds has been looked down up on. Farmer think integration of trees in the hedges actually counter productive. Needs lot of demonstrations and data so that there is a policy farmer work on tree integration into the regular farming activities.
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Social forestry (in the commons, at road side, small groves, lacks the policy framework and mechanisms to fund, protect and grow the social forests. Most (90%) of the social forestry initiatives have failed. There needs a immediate attention to address this.
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Thanks @Shashi
Shouldn’t there be science backing this? As in enough research and data to prove to the farmers?
@Mari @tanmayi @Sagar_Gudekote Maybe we could create short videos in local languages explaining this with data?
@sameershisodia the Devarkadu in every village idea of yours, I think we should use our networks and push for it. Maybe using @SayTrees @farmersforforest etc. If it can generate yield through fruits, timber, and carbon credits, shouldn’t this scale?
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Lets start this with Kolar? Tell us how to do it and lets talk about it at the Panchayat level. I loved all the discussion above but if a village community is interested, we need a formula for them to apply. Who should we talk to?
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@sameershisodia say what? We should attempt this right?
Speak to @SayTrees @farmersforforest and attempt this?
The whole idea of a response platform is to pull help out of where knowledge/knowhow exists deep inside PoCs and research etc and make it available where there’s a realized need such as this one.
cc @anjalineelakantan and WELL Labs : this is use case ERA, @SayTrees , AREST/ATREE might have responses for, contextually? cc @sidsrao