Beyond farm income: True value accounting of ecosystem services from agroforestry

Abstract

A farm’s sale receipts rarely show its full value. Ecosystem services such as carbon storage, soil protection, groundwater recharge, pollination, that trees generate on a farm typically go unrecorded, even though they are real and often substantial. True Value Accounting (TVA), developed under UNEP’s TEEBAgriFood initiative, offers a disciplined way to bring these usually invisible contributions into view alongside market income, while also recognising any environmental or social costs a system creates. This article explains what TVA means for Indian agroforestry, which ecosystem services these systems generate, how they can be measured and valued without double counting, and why the distinction between economic value and cash income matters for farmers, researchers and policymakers alike.