With a market size of over $103 billion, the carbon credits market is a multibillion-dollar market that is growing steadily. This specialised financial market where carbon credits can be bought and sold provides an alternative and additional source of funding for farmers across the world.
Despite its popularity, it is very difficult for lower-income African countries, which have limited funds and technical capacity, to participate in the carbon market on fair terms. The prices can be unpredictable and many of the climate benefits Africa provides don’t fit into current carbon credit methodologies. African farmers who could also benefit from these credits, often lack an awareness of how to apply and secure access.
To solve this problem, ThriveAgric, a leading Nigerian Agritech startup has partnered with Acorn Rabobank to enable over 30,000 smallholder farmers with carbon credit access. The initiative is expected to facilitate the removal of 1.3 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions and generate $56m in revenue for these farmers. Acorn Rabobank, the climate action arm of the 125-year-old Dutch bank Rabobank, tackles climate change through 27 projects across the world, including countries like Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
“Every farmer we’d work with has an opportunity to make additional revenue from carbon credits,” Samirah Bello, head of Partnerships at Thrive Agrice told Bendada.com. “For example, a farmer with one hectare of land can make as much as $1,700 in revenue from carbon credits in a year. For farms with newly planted trees, carbon credit revenue typically starts increasing after the third year as the trees mature, capturing more carbon and generating additional credits.”
Across nine Nigerian states (Kaduna, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Jigawa, Niger, Nassarawa, and Kano), the project plans to empower smallholder farmers to regenerate their farmlands. This initiative tackles climate change by improving soil health, boosting biodiversity, and enhancing carbon capture. Farmers will benefit from increased crop productivity, reduced post-harvest losses, and additional income from carbon credits and other climate-smart programs.
“The carbon market is such a big market that we believe African farmers shouldn’t left behind,” Ayo Arikwe, CTO of Thrive Agric, said. “We’re also building internal capacity to expand the scope of carbon emissions. We’d start with this agriculture project and expand to others.”
Africa holds immense potential for carbon credits, yet it currently captures only 2% of its capacity. Agriculture, with practices like agroforestry, offers a significant portion (30%) of this potential. Trees absorb carbon while reducing deforestation, which has led to increased droughts, conflicts, and climate disasters. These factors contribute to pre- and post-harvest losses, reducing food availability and pushing millions into hunger.
The agritech startup, which works with over 800,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, has also launched a platform, Dorewa, a platform to facilitate seamless carbon credit transactions. Farmers can list their projects on the platform, and if verified and accepted, they too can start earning additional revenue. ThriveAgric also gets a commission on every successful carbon credit transaction on the platform.
“The idea behind Dorewa is to help other farmers across Africa get started on the journey of offsetting carbon credits,” Arikwe said. “We believe this is just the start of something new in Africa.”
