The CarbonXtras project is developing and deploying Dynamic Real-Time Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) System for climate-smart agricultural practices across Ghana and Africa.
The project seeks to empower farmers, policymakers and researchers with accurate, real-time data on soil health, greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, and carbon sequestration.
Through integrating advanced sensor technologies with local farming knowledge, CarbonXtras will enable evidence-based decisions on regenerative practices, sustainable land management and carbon-credit readiness.
The CarbonXtras Project is a multi-country collaboration among the James Hutton Institute (Scotland, UK), CSIR -Crops Research Institute (Ghana), Embrapa (Brazil) and Sonavision (UK).
The initiative is funded under the Innovate UK Climate-Smart Agriculture Partnership (UK–Brazil–Africa) with key additional support from DIPPER Lab (KNUST), AINAS (African Initiative for Nature-Based Solutions), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), etc.
The project aims to support climate-smart agriculture by providing farmers and policymakers with accurate, real-time data on soil quality and carbon emissions.
Soil sampling is being carried out in Tamale (Tolon), Navrongo, Kintampo and Kumasi to collect baseline data soil health, monitor in near Realtime carbon storage and emission for premier prices and carbon credits for farmers, and identify areas where interventions can improve crop yields.
The team started the exercise in Tolon in the Tamale area, where they met officials of the Tolon District Directorate of Agriculture
The fieldwork includes soil testing, collection of historic data, and social surveys to better understand local farming practices and challenges.
Dr. Caleb Melanya Ocansey, Co-Principal Investigator of the project and Lead for Partnerships at Dipper Lab, briefed stakeholders and farmers on the CarbonXtras Project.
He said, “We are monitoring carbon fluxes to better understand how soil carbon interacts with the atmosphere,” he said. “Carbon emissions are a key driver of global warming, and measuring them at the field level helps us develop practical solutions for farmers.”
He added, “We believe that emission of the carbon into the atmosphere is the major cause of global warming.”
Lead Principal Investigator Dr. Jagadeesh Yeluripati said the team is deploying sensors and collecting data to track greenhouse gas emissions.
“We want to collect field-level data and use it to predict greenhouse-gas emissions to help farmers adopt management practices that are truly climate-smart,” he said.
The team conducted soil sampling, collected historic data and carried out social surveys.
The Tolon District Director of Agriculture, Mr. Abdul Baasit Zakari, said, “Farmers in the district continue to record low yields due to declining soil fertility and climate change.”
He welcomed the intervention and noted that the findings will help guide farm decisions.
Farmers and extension officers will also receive training on the CarbonXtras mobile MRV app (RETINA) to enable them to input field data directly from smartphones and contribute to near-real-time monitoring.
The partners will move to Navrongo and other regions to carry out similar soil studies and community engagements.
The CarbonXtras consortium includes KNUST (Dipper Lab and Department of Agroforestry), AINAS (African Initiative for Nature-based Solutions), Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), National Communication Authority (NCA), Association of Natural Rubber Actors of Ghana (ANRAG), CSIR-Soil Research Institute, CSIR-FoRIG, etc.
