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Varhad shall work with 550,000+ small holder farmers in Vidarbha region of India converts post harvest cotton stalk into biochar via pyrolysis and further into biofertilizer.
About
Varhad's work is in Agriculture where it works with its inspiration ie small holder farmers, helping them restore soil organic carbon and soil organic matter, conserving water, promoting organic biofertlizer based regenerative agriculture and creating climate resilience in agriculture. All of this is achieved through the valorisation of agricultural stubble/ waste into biochar (ie engineered carbon) and organic compost (Nature based carbon) which are mixed to produce a stable, high quality, ph neutral biofertlizer which is supplied back to farmers for soil application. The production of biochar and compost is completely in house and Varhad has over the past few years, worked on both aritisanal and Industrial biochar production has even developed its own 30TPD full in-house developed pyrolyser. Already 3000 Tons of biochar based biofertlizer (Biochaar++) has been supplied to farmers in the Vidarbha region and 1200 tons of Biochaar++ has been retailed. Varhad is also a registered C-Sink Manager with CSI standard Switzerland and listed with Isometric standard UK as a CDR credit supplier. In the past, Varhad has generated around 3000 biochar based CDR credits which have been since sold to generate cashflows to further Varhad's transformational work.
Varhad is proposing investment in Pyrolysis technology to produce biochar to further the cause detailed above. This can be done 2 ways:
- through inventment in artisanal biochar production and its application in soil as mentioned above. Varhad proposes to generate 10,000 CDR credits (corresponding to approximately 4000 tons of biochar or 8000 Tons of Biochaar++). This much biochar is adequate for 4000 acres of land or 1600 hectares.
- through inventment in industrial biochar production and its application in soil as mentioned above. Varhad proposes to generate 15,000 CDR credits (corresponding to approximately 6000 tons of biochar or 12000 Tons of Biochaar++). This much biochar is adequate for 6000 acres of land or 2400 hectares.
Key Benefits
The Key benefits for Tesco and farmers are enumerated below:
For Tesco:
- Generation of Biochar based CDR credits which can be monetized to generate revenues and make the project self sustainable.
- Transition away from chemical based fertlizers will help Tesco reduce its Scope 3 emission and therefore progress towards it Net zero commitment.
- Cost of produce from farmers per hectare of land reduces due to higher yeild and lower input costs.
For (Tesco's) Farmers:
- transition away from chemical fertlizers assures better quality of produce and residue free harvest- which is crucial from a health point of view as well.
- higher yeild per hectare due to better root growth promoted by use of biochar based biofertilizer - to ensure food security
- reduction in dependence of rain/ ground water for irrigation due to higher moisture retention capabilty of biochar - promotes water security and climate resilient agriculture.
- transition to regenerative/ organic farming results in higher price per unit of produce.
Applications
For this proposed project, the target market shall be Tesco.