Low-tech biochar production for smallholders as an opportunity for enhancing livelihood and promoting climate-smart agriculture.
An extension of our WAGS BIO programme, this scalable, carbon removal project supports smallholder farmers to convert oil palm wastes into biochar to regenerate soils, sink carbon and create new revenue streams for farmers.
Our mission is to show that improving soil health naturally is not only good for the planet but a means to improve farmers’ livelihoods. Over the next 10 years, we strive to build up to 1 million mt of carbon pools under agriculture. Using low-cost, low-tech methods, our network of smallholders will become de facto ‘champions’ who manage these carbon pools and advocate the value of biodiversity for healthy crops and healthier communities. In time, we will see larger scale “BIO Transformation Units”, that is sustained by a BIO circular economy and can go on to support local network of farmers indefinitely.
Our story started with Wild Asia Group Scheme (WAGS) in 2011 with a simple quest to provide extension support to oil palm smallholder farmers. Today, there are over 3,000 producers in Malaysia and Thailand who are part of the WAGS network. Since 2019, we have been encouraging natural farming among smallholders. With a target group of farms, we tried out a number of BIO friendly methods like maintaining chemical-free farms and converting organic wastes into high-value products such as compost, fermented products and biochar, among others. The lessons learned and the know-how from these trials help farmers make the transition to chemical-free farms and improve their soil health.
Why Biochar
A simple tool to combat climate change, the use of biochar is one of recent strategies to restore carbon to depleted soils and sequester carbon for years. The oldest remaining terra preta soils in the Amazonias are over 4,000 years old.
Biochar is a form of charcoal produced in low-oxygen environments and essentially “fixes” the carbon in plant matter into a long-term, stable form that is stored in soils. Valued as a low-fertility soil amendment, biochar improves water and nutrient retention, assists in acidic soils, encourages soil microbiota and improves crop yields.
By converting oil palm agriculture wastes into biochar that can be used as natural soil amendments on their farms, farmers can expect to see an increase in yields, improved soil quality and higher farm profitability.
Compared to large industrial biochar, artisanal Biochar technology is relatively inexpensive, scalable and accessible.
Smallholders for Climate Impact
For every tonne of biochar that is produced, approximately 2 mt of carbon dioxide equivalent are stored in our soils for at least 75 to 100 years, based on conservative estimates from scientific studies.
Based on calculations by our technical partner Switzerland-based Ithaka Institute, an oil palm farmer with a 1-hectare land could produce 5 mt biochar annually (equivalent to a carbon pool of 10 mt carbon dioxide) from oil palm fronds that would have been typically left and the carbon that would have dissipated.
With a centralised BIO transformation unit (CBTUs), community groups or mills with industrial organic waste, could produce larger biochar amounts and our dream is to see a network of CBTUs that make availability of biochar to many more farmers in the region.
Our partners
Ithaka Institute developed the European Biochar Certificate (EBC) and now Carbon Standards International which sets the standards and methods for biochar production and application that yields a carbon sink (e.g., carbon removal). We will be applying the Artisanal C-Sink standard for tropical smallholder agriculture and biochar production in our project, as part of a network of projects across the tropics.
Wild Asia is now an accredited Artisanal C-sink Group Manager under the Carbon Standards International. We have partnered with CIRCONOMY to help validate and certify our farmer groups to increase the availability of C-Sink certificates for carbon renewals in the region. The sales of carbon removal (C-Sink) certificates will support networks of farmers to accelerate their trust and confidence in our methods and adopt regenerative farming practices more widely.
Current Progress
We target to have Malaysia’s first Artisanal Biochar C-sink Credits by mid 2025. The audit by CERES was recently completed and we will have credits available soon. We will be supported to trade these credits with our partners CIRCONOMY. This is a small but important milestone for our efforts on the ground. We have been supported by our SPIRAL Partners and we thank EXIM Bank for the added support to make this last mile possible.
From April 2022, we will work with a target group of farmers to learn the process to convert their oil palm fronds to biochar. We have identified local partners who are interested to assist us on this journey and provide technical and in-kind support to the project, including Professor Dr. Robert Thomas Bachmann from UniKL MICET’s “Green Chemistry & Sustainable Engineering Technology.” Dr Bachmann has been studying the performance of low-tech kilns and providing valuable technical support to our study. We will use this feasibility study to extend our engagement with other farming networks and relevant government agencies. We hope a wider coalition of partners will join us on this project to deliver a much wider impact.
What our WAGS BIO farmers say
Support the Project
Targets and projections
We will be keen to find partners to scale up our Artisanal Biochar Network, this could be in the form of grants or secure our C-sink credits. We plan to have availability of 200-400 mt carbon removal credits annually, and more as our momentum grows.
Wild Asia believes in partnerships. We bring small producers, technical and industry partners together to support a network of farmers who are learning and practicing sustainable agriculture. We call this network SPIRAL, or Small Producer Inclusivity Resilience Alliance. WAGS BIOchar for Smallholders is one of a number of ways SPIRAL partners can improve livelihoods, create opportunities for improving farm profitability and increase valuable carbon stores under agriculture.
Learn More
- Read our project profile on the CIRCONOMY website.
- Contact partnerships@wildasia.org to learn more about our project and how you can get involved.