Morocco’s state-owned OCP Group, the world’s largest producer of phosphate-based fertilisers has announced it is launching its first carbon farming and certification project in Brazil to ensure food security.
Carbon farming is an approach of optimising carbon capture on working landscapes by implementing practices that are known to improve the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in plant material and/or soil organic matter.
Morocco’s OCP has teamed up with Bioline by InVivo, Agrorobótica for the project to be carried out across Matto Grosso agricultural region in Brazil, which produces the majority of the country’s livestock and grains.
The project seeks to improve regenerative, sustainable farming and carbon sequestration in soil. It will be certified through Verra-VCS standard and monitored by using a cutting-edge soil spectroscopy technology deployed to analyze the chemical and physical composition of soil.
According to media reports from Morocco, the tailored solutions will enable a farmer to adopt the regenerative practices needed for sustainable agriculture. These practices enhance the soil’s capacity to sequester carbon and improve soil health and fertility, which in turn reduces carbon emissions, supports food security and helps to increase returns for farmers.
The carbon credits generated from the project provide a valuable source of income for the farmer and OCP will put the carbon credits that it receives from this partnership towards its own objectives of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040.
“OCP Group promotes regenerative agriculture practices in Brazil, Africa and many areas around the world by supporting farmers through training, deploying the 4R approach and encouraging innovation,” Hanane Mourchid, Chief Sustainability Officer of OCP Group, said.
“We are excited to contribute to this important step towards scaling up the carbon farming initiative. This at-scale project will create new revenue for our farmers by rewarding them for their efforts in contributing to the global climate action. The project is a concrete way to unlock the potential of agriculture as a natural carbon sink that will help achieving the Paris Agreement objectives”, he added.
On his part, Laurent Martel, Bioline by InVivo CEO, said: “This project illustrates Bioline by InVivo’s commitment to accelerate agricultural solutions for the environment, by diversifying farmers’ incomes. Agriculture can regenerate the natural capital, agriculture is a solution to the climate crisis, and farmers must be paid for their regenerating actions”.
Fábio Angelis, Founder and chief executive of Agrorobótica added: “The purpose of his company is to contribute to food security and the mitigation of climate change on our planet.”
