Outcomes Objectives and Metrics and Narrative

Final Proposal Narrative

The OOM details what we are hoping to achieve through the project, not only ourselves at a system level through influencing others in the ecosystem.

Outcome: Long, term real-world changes an initiative is intended to deliver. Not limited to project lifespan; we are setting an outcome for 2031 (10 years).

By 2031, farmers, government and market actors collaborate to reduce yield-scaled CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions from agriculture in Bihar, India by up to 25% relative to a BAU scenario without jeopardizing food security goals through adoption of climate smart agriculture and success of this approach has inspired similar action in five additional states.

Objective: Real-world changes an initiative is intended to deliver, within its lifespan (in our case, within 2 years or by end of September 2023)

Objective 1: 50,000 farmers in Bihar adopt practices that reduce CO2e emissions by 10,000 metric tons during the 2023 monsoon / kharif season (July - October 2023) as a result of integrating climate smart advisories in agricultural extension programming and developing of a community of practice around emissions reduction from agriculture in Bihar that amplifies political will, accelerates adoption of project innovations, engages private sector actors, and grows state influence among peers.

Milestones: ‘Waypoint’ articulating how objectives will be achieved. Emphasize actions that others will take in response to what we are doing, not just project deliverables.

November 2021	Inception workshop held with participation from key partners and stakeholders including JEEViKA and DoA to align on objectives and timelines, build excitement, establish clear roles, responsibilities and project governance. Closed door dialogue invitation extended to government peers in other states and feedback/engagement is solicited.
December 2021	Conducted rapid ‘climate-smart’ assessment of extension content calendars and established a methodology for integrating practices with high emission reduction impact into content calendering process for JEEViKA and other extension providers in upcoming seasons.
April 2022	Completed a survey of farmers to understand their perceptions and reactions to production practices that reduce emissions and use learnings to inform advisory content calendar, video production guidelines and data wallet design.
July 2022	Established with CSISA and EDF a process and regular cadence for exchanging feedback with research institutions / initiatives such as ICAR, state agricultural universities, Convergence Platform, and Tata Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) (“zero-carbon, zero-hunger” project) where research findings influence JEEViKA’s advisory service for both existing commodities and crop diversification, and data captured by VRPs on farmer behavior change informs research and policymaker agendas.
October 2022	During the 2022 kharif / monsoon season (June to October), targeted advisory content promoted by the project team on optimizing nitrogen fertilizer application is integrated to the extension system in Bihar and reaches ~121,000 farmers.
December 2022	~100 VRPs opt-in to participate in a climate smart “bootcamp” which introduces CSA concepts and specific emission reducing practices demonstrating VRP interest in the topic.
March 2023	Present dashboard with data visualizations on current practices and their estimated emissions based on data generated by the MRV platform to key stakeholders in Bihar including JEEViKA, DoA, and state policymakers upon their invitation demonstrating their interest and engagement with the program.
June 2023	~30% of practices promoted by JEEViKA in the upcoming kharif / monsoon season (June to October) align with CSA principles and reduce yield scale emissions demonstrating institutionalization of CSA within Bihar’s agricultural extension and research system.
September 2023	Agriculture is recognized in Bihar’s state climate action plans which means that the the plans include targets for GHG emissions reductions from agriculture, regular public reporting on progress, clear designation of ultimate authority for climate smart agriculture, and budget allocation for climate change awareness and implementation activities (eg, climate sensitivity training for VRPs and extension agents).
October 2023	During the final season of the project period (kharif or monsoon 2023, July to October), we expect to reach 208,600 SSPs with advisories on practices that reduce GHG emissions. 24% of recipients will adopt a combination of practices sufficient to reduce emissions by 0.2 tons CO2e per hectare on average, resulting in 50,079 hectares under climate smart practices, and and reduction of 10,016 metric tons CO2e.

Objective 2: By Sep 2023, generate credible baseline emission estimates for ~25,000 SSPs (with changes over time captured for a subset of ~1,600 SSPs) in Bihar via a Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) platform linked with a farmer data wallet that has committed partners ready to scale the platform to additional states.

November 2021	v1.0 MRV platform launched that includes a data collection tool for extension agents / VRPs to capture data on farmer practices and workflow for local managers and DG staff to validate data.
January 2022	Workshop held to share learnings from pilot data collection and demo the MRV + data wallet with senior and district level JEEViKA leadership to build momentum, gather feedback, and select districts for MRV platform rollout.
March 2022	Relevant government agencies in three target replication states indicate strong interest in adopting the MRV platform as a result of focused outreach by program partners including JEEViKA.
May 2022	Baseline for current estimated emission developed for ~1,600 farmers based on data collected through the MRV platform using an ensemble approach that leverages three GHG emission models.
June 2022	Estimate of emissions from agriculture in Bihar in 2031 under a Business as Usual (BAU) developed in consultation with technical partners, TCI, and Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
July 2022	Results of inter-comparison of three climate models shared with model developers and other stakeholders to increase awareness and drive convergence towards a modeling approach and coefficients that are fit for purpose for India and SSPs.
October 2022	Data wallet wireframe recognized by India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) as an exemplar implementation for promoting farmer agency and data empowerment which generates awareness and buy-in from collaborators and government agencies in BIhar and target replication states.
January 2023	Representatives from government agencies in target replication states and private sector collaborators attend a 3-day Study Visit and Climate/Ag/Tech showcase hosted by JEEViKA and project partners which shares methodology and learnings from MRV rollout, builds momentum for methods and tools and increases awareness of related best practices.
April 2023	User research group launched with SSPs testing a beta version of an app to directly capture practice data and manage its storage and access through a data wallet to validate user demand and gain insights to inform product roadmap.
July 2023	Data accuracy integrated as an indicator by JEEViKA in VRP performance management and compensation based on learnings from MRV rollout.
September 2023	Practice + emission estimates from farmer data wallet used by a stakeholder in Bihar to drive a purchase or similar action demonstrating that the MRV is credible and data wallet delivers value to farmers. We have initiated discussions with buyers (eg, Olam and IndigoAg) carbon offset project developers (eg, VNV Advisory) and local providers of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certifications along these lines.