Plant trees on the edges of your field and you don't lose crop area — but you can lock in more carbon than the crop itself. And after 5–7 years, you can sell the timber.
The tree math, made simple
A Melia dubia tree grows to about 10 metres in 5 years. That single tree stores roughly 250 kg of CO₂. A modest 40-tree boundary around one acre? About 10 tonnes over its life. Do this on 5,000 acres and you have a serious carbon project.
Why farmers actually plant them
Timber. At year 6–7, Melia sells for ₹8,000–15,000 per tree — a lump-sum income event on top of the annual carbon payouts. So the tree pays twice: yearly (carbon) and once (timber).