Varaha ClimateAg Private Limited and Sustainable Agriculture Foundation Bangladesh (SAF Bangladesh) have announced the successful issuance of carbon credits under VCS Project 4456, marking Bangladesh’s first-ever agroforestry carbon credit issuance under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
The Bangladesh-based project has now issued over 60,000 carbon credits from 160 demonstration farms where smallholder farmers work on restoring degraded land, adopting climate-resilient agriculture practices, and advancing high-density mango-based agroforestry systems.
According to the project developers, this milestone issuance is expected to channel hundreds of thousands of dollars in a carbon revenue share to the participating smallholder farmers in 2026 alone, with further payments expected to come as additional vintages are sold.
The network of demonstration farms was technically facilitated and supported by 2030WRG (part of the World Bank Group).
This initiative was designed to prove that water-efficient, high-density mango plantations could be made to work for subsistence farmers, establishing a model that didn’t previously exist in the country.
Leveraging its decades-long experience working with smallholders in Bangladesh, SAF Bangladesh helped design and elevate this prototype into a model that can be scaled across thousands of farms.
With the help of carbon finance, this proof of concept has since grown into a target of 30,000 hectares, bridging the four-year gestation gap that has historically kept smallholders out of higher-value perennial crops.
Relevant: Varaha Secures $20M To Scale Carbon Removal In The Global South
In a broader perspective, the project by Varaha and SAF also aligns with the national priorities of Bangladesh, which include an agricultural transformation towards more efficient land use that would help strengthen climate resilience and pave the way for an export-oriented agricultural sector.
“This is a remarkable moment for Bangladesh and a strong validation of the collective effort of every team involved,” said Md. Farhad Zamil, Executive Director at SAF Bangladesh.
He added, “Seeing the country’s first agroforestry carbon credits issued under Verra is deeply meaningful—not just as a milestone for our partnership with 2030 WRG, but as a tangible step forward for the smallholder farmers whose work is at the heart of this project.“
Read more: Varaha Introduces New Biochar Partnership Program, Kicking Off Novel Project In Côte d’Ivoire
