BIOCHAR: FIX CARBON FOR FOOD

Food security and climate change are global problems and, in some ways, interlinked as well. The existing food systems are responsible for 70% of water extraction from nature, 60% of biodiversity loss and generate around 1/3rd of greenhouse gas emissions. 50% of the agricultural land is degraded. It is vital to learn that land availability is finite whereas food demand keeps on increasing and contributes to climate crisis as well. We cannot increase air, water, soil and minerals in our ecosystem, but we can restore and prevent it from further degradation.

Our solution is to produce biochar in a decentralized way and utilization in the agriculture application to improve the soil fertility for low income communities. The process also sequesters the carbon and stores it into the soil for centuries. The marginalized farmers will be economically benefited for restoring the local ecosystem by increase in crop productivity, reduce expenses in chemical fertilizer and access to carbon revenues.

Agriculture plays a significant role for the overall development of Bangladesh. More than 47.5% people directly depend on agriculture contributing to 19.29% of  national GDP. But the country is facing land degradation challenges due to excess use of groundwater irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Climate change is increasingly becoming a driver of livelihood and economic insecurity.

Agricultural growth and development is key for food security in Bangladesh, yet the sector is facing several challenges that hinder development and cause stagnating growth rates. Some of those challenges relate to: gradual loss of arable land, declining soil fertility and salinization; insufficient investment in agricultural research and training; inadequate credit support for farmers and an unfavorable land-tenure system, resulting in low level technology uptake of a predominantly small-scale farming structure; outmigration and labor shortage in rural areas resulting in rising wage rates; and the need to cope with increasing impacts of climate change and related extreme weather events

Climate change poses a considerable threat to global food security, with potentially existential economic, political, and social outcomes for humanity.

The proposed solution will utilize the local resources and work with community enterprises for producing, processing and selling the biochar under a market-based model. The usage of biochar along with natural fertilizer, like compost, increase the crop productivity and increase the soil carbon. The improved soil health provides the economic incentives and also converted into natural carbon sinks to address the climate change issues. 

The decentralized approach of biochar production at household and community level through pyrolysis technology provides an alternative source of energy for cooking for farmers along with the opportunity to be part of community enterprise. This will help to access the integrated carbon finance for reduced GHG emissions and increased soil carbon. The approach will contribute to improved livelihoods and crop productivity, green growth and women empowerment.

The primary target segment for the proposed solution are the marginalized farmers those who are highly exposed and vulnerable from the climate change impacts, like droughts, deforestation, erosion and flooding. Due to lack of access to information, investment and poor soil quality, the marginalized farmers are facing multi fold challenges of food security and poverty.

The decentralized production of biochar will broadly cover the following fields:

(i) soil improvement, 

(ii) waste stabilization, 

(iii) climatic change mitigation, and 

(iv) energy production 

Biochar amendment in soil enhances plant nutrients availability, microbial activities, organic matter, water holding capacity and crop production; while lessening the fertilizer requirements, greenhouse gas productions, nutrient leaching and soil erosion. 

Soil improvement: Soil amendment will depend on the feedstock or biomass and the pyrolysis technique used to produce the biochar. Still, most biochar materials will contain small particles, as biochar is brittle and small particles are formed when the material is handled and contribute to soil fertility improvement.

Waste stabilization: Biochar production can be a waste management strategy capable of handling a wide range of biomass types—including agricultural and forestry residues as well as animal and municipal solid wastes—as long as care is taken not to use feed stocks that contaminate the end product such as heavy-metal-rich feed stocks.

Climate Change: Greenhouse gases, in excess, are linked to the climate change currently being experienced worldwide. As biochar is produced by pyrolysis, it can serve as such a sink for carbon storage. As a matter of fact the production of biochar is one way to sequester some amount of carbon before it enters the atmosphere.

Energy production: Bangladesh produces 94.93 million tons of wood and crop residues and wood fuels annually, out of which 57.3 million tons are net available for energy use (FAOSTAT 2008). Biochar can play a role as clean cooking energy solution. 

Climate friendly agricultural solutions: application of biochar in no-tillage agriculture particularly in the fruit orchards is very effective as it covers the soil surface, increases water retention, supplies nutrients, prevents leaching and increases production.

The project also aligns with gender equality by providing inclusive enterprise development opportunity for the women while production of biochar. As the byproduct, all the households involved in the process of biochar production also get access to clean cooking energy as well.

The solution of biochar at local level and using it in the agriculture application will address the problem of food security by increasing the soil health and address the food security issue.  The usage of biochar in agriculture also creates carbon sinks which will be certified and mobilize carbon revenues for the farmers.

The proposed solution is in alignment with the challenge dimension to access the finance capital through carbon finance and store carbon into the soil. The local farmer communities engage in regenerative agriculture practices as per the approved international carbon standards (Gold Standard and VCS). 

The first prototype of biochar production was introduced in the farmer community from 2017 to 2019 in the three districts of Bangladesh - Shivalaya, Manda and Daudpur. During that period total 250 biochar production units were installed at household level. The capacity building and training support was provided by the local implementing agency - CCDB (Christian Commission of Development in Bangladesh). The impact of the intervention with the local community was quite visible as households participating in the project easily understand and perceive that the use of Top-lit updraft (TLUD) gasifiers  for production of biochar and cooking is simple and that the agriculturale production improved, when applying biochar on the land. Additionally, the potential of biochar towards the income generation perspective also motivated them. After the completion of pilot phase the scale up will be done as per the business plan.

The proposed solution is innovative because it smartly combines soil productivity improvement, carbon sequestration and improvement of the economic situation of poor farmers. The solution will be utilized to establish a community-based enterprise for producing, processing and selling the biochar under a market-based model. The innovation is also the monetizing of the climate impact (carbon credits) of sustainable agriculture land management for the benefit of marginalized farmers and is utilized to strengthening the climate resilience of the degraded land. 

The decentralized approach of biochar production at household level through TLUD (Top Lift Up Draft) technology provides an alternative source of energy for cooking for farmers along with the opportunity to be part of community enterprise. This will help to access the integrated carbon finance for reduced GHG emissions and increased soil carbon. The approach will contribute to improved livelihoods and crop productivity, green growth, and women empowerment.

The nice part is that the energy generated in the process of making the biochar will also be utilized for cooking by the rural women at household level. Less firewood is needed and the burden of collecting firewood will be less. This will help women in saving time and provide a better environment inside the house by reducing indoor air pollution. 

Currently, The biochar solution is working with 500 farmers at the moment in Bangladesh

In next year 2022, the scale will be reached to another 2000 farmers within Bangladesh

In next 5 years, the scale of the solution will cover multiple countries with a reach of 25,000 farmers

The progress of the solution will be measured in monitoring the following indicators:

 - Number of production units installed at households

 - Tones of biochar produced by the project

 - Tones of carbon removed/stored by the solutions.

 - % increase of income for marginalized farmer

 - % increase in crop productivity from the agriculture land

The following team member are working in the solution team:

Full time staff - 2 person

Part time staff - 1 person

Local Team from grassroot organization - 5 person

Core Team comprises of 3 Members along with local implementation partner in Bangladesh

Jasmeet Singh (Lead) - Jasmeet is leading the south Asia portfolio of fairclimatefund and responsible for developing the biochar project in Bangladesh. He has more than 12+ years of total experience in the climate and energy sector especially in designing the carbon project for rural and marginalized communities. He has an administrator experienced in business development and incubation & management of new business and programs.

Neera van der Geest (Agri & Carbon Expert) - Neera is a founder of FairClimateFund and worked on the edge of economic development, poverty alleviation and environmental protection (climate, soil productivity, water, biodiversity, landscape approach). She has 35+ years of total rich experience of working with the private sector (Arcadis/BKH), public sector (Dutch government) and as a social business now. With a senior management experience and background in Agriculture and Climate, she applies thought leadership strategy for institutional development. She is successfully managing the carbon offset/removal business with an entrepreneurial attitude and achieving sustainable economic growth. She is a practical networker who connects people with a purpose with a heart for conservation of our planet.

Megha Thakur (SDG Impact Analyst) - Megha is a new member in the FairClimateFund team. As part of her doctoral research, she has worked on health impact assessment of a locally manufactured improved cookstove. She is also a part of Young Expert Programmes (YEP) supported by the Netherlands government 

Climate change is increasing inequality. People who contributed the least to climate change, face the most severe impacts on their livelihoods, especially in countries like Bangladesh, with flooding and degradation of agricultural land. FCF's mission is to use carbon market in order to benefit Bangladeshi people, marginalized farmers most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, in a fair and effective way. With high social impact and targeted at marginalized groups, meeting the Gold Standard and Fairtrade Climate Standard.

Our leadership building is based on the interdependence in climate change solutions, working with local communities on their climate resilience and meanwhile linking them to carbon credit buyers in the corporate sector. We invest in building a joint vision with the local communities, giving them access to climate solutions that provides income for them. So diversity, equity and inclusion are an integral part of our ecosystem, working in Europe and Asian countries, including companies buying the climate impacts and vulnerable communities generating the climate impacts, like in this biochar pilot project in Bangladesh. All is about connection and deep appreciation that we are all part of the same planet and that we have equal rights to climate solutions, to a Fair Climate.

The major motivation for us to apply under Solve is to get further refinement in our business plan and opportunities to grow by establishing partnership with like minded organizations. While working with peers we will get an opportunity to receive critical inputs and support which our solution more robust. 

Our solution has multiple components and of course FCF is not an expert of all the field areas and we need mentoring and guidance support to make our solution work at larger scale. 

Our solution comprises of quantify the impact of biochar on agriculture, storing the carbon in soil, providing low cost biochar technology to farmers and training to farmer for agriculture applications. We are specifically looking for inputs in monitoring and evaluation tools which will be recognized at international levels and also access to scientific labs to quantify the impacts.

We are a small company with big plans and interest of credit buyers in Europe and in the future also in the US, so getting a recognition from MIT will be a privilege which will act as a catalyst for our fundraising plan.  

Human Capital - We are a small team with big plans to address the issue of food security and climate change. We are looking to access the human capital available in the MIT or in the network to provide professional support and guidance on agriculture applications and validated cases to restore the ecosystem.

Business Model - The solution is in the pilot phase with having multiple revenue lines, we would like to take MIT expertise to further refine it which will be pitched to impact investor for scale up phase. 

Monitoring & Evaluation - The project will generate the climate impacts from soil applications, though we have some potential investors those are interested in purchasing the impacts but there is a need to establish a transparent and robust M&E mechanism for the project. We would need an access to M&E tools and indicators which can be used in our business case.

We would like to partner with MIT faculty to provide more R&D support towards the multiple usage of biochar in agriculture applications

We would like to partner with other Solvers through MIT's platform to replicate our solution to other geographies

We are looking for private sector organization within the network of MIT those are interested to fulfill their NetZero commitments

If we win the Innovation Prize for women, we like to use this to continue the proposed biochar solution for our concept "Cooking as a Business" . This is a IoT/Blockchain based solution in which women receive directly the income of carbon credit sales on their financial account. This concept is tested in India first, and will - when successful - also be implemented for the rural women in Bangladesh who then will also earn income in cash from the carbon revenue. (normally the income of carbon credit sales will only reach the project developers). With the use of TLUD technology, the women will become biochar producers and get monetary incentives when using the climate friendly technology. Meanwhile, during the production of biochar, women will also be able to cook with clean energy, which is a byproduct of biochar. This helps in saving the time due to the energy efficient system of TLUD. So, besides the economic empowerment and time saving for women, it also provide health environment within the household by mitigating indoor air pollution. Like many part of the countries, in Bangladesh as well, women are responsible for domestic unpaid work which includes firewood collection and cooking. The proposed solution will help in reducing the burden of domestic work and recognize the contribution of women in the mainstream economic activity.

The solution is qualified under this category for one of its feature to address the problem of climate change by removing the carbon from the atmosphere and absorb into the soil. Our solution is producing biochar (stable form of carbon) from biomass (dead plant/tree) which otherwise bound to decompose and contribute to global warming. The proposed technology of biochar is decentralized low cost model which will be operated and managed at farmer level only, it also provide the opportunity for rural women for producing biochar while cooking.

The produced biochar is being used by the local farmers in agriculture applications to increase the soil health and agriculture productivity. The biochar solution is also recognized solution for carbon absorption techniques for centuries, drawdown list of solution also includes biochar as one of the breakthrough technology, which can be found here https://drawdown.org/solutions...  

The carbon absorption in the form of biochar provides the private sector an opportunity to fulfill their NetZero commitments under the Paris Agreement.