Rebuilding Farming Systems: Regenerative Agriculture for a Resilient India

Key Highlights:

• Regenerative agriculture aims to restore soil vitality, improve biodiversity, and strengthen resilience against climate stresses in India.
• Practices like natural farming, agroforestry, micro-irrigation, and integrated farming systems are being adopted across the country.
• National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) covered 8.80 lakh hectares and enrolled 18.19 lakh farmers by March 2026.
• Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme covered 109 lakh hectares by May 2026, significantly improving water-use efficiency.
• Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC) generated 25.89 crore cards since its inception by March 2026.
• India's agriculture and allied sectors recorded a decadal growth of 4.45% during FY16-FY25.

Detailed Insights:

• Years of intensive cultivation, heavy chemical use, and erratic rainfall have led to declining soil health, higher input costs, and uncertain harvests for farmers.
• Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach focused on rebuilding soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and ensuring long-term productivity and resilience.
• Its core principles include minimizing soil disturbance, protecting living roots, maintaining soil cover, integrating livestock, limiting chemical inputs, and enhancing biodiversity.
• Practices under this approach include micro-irrigation, farm mechanization, nitrogen fertilizer management, Natural farming, green manuring, cover cropping, and mulching.
• Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) combine multiple farm enterprises like crops, livestock, and fisheries to maximize resource use and diversify livelihoods.
• Agroforestry integrates perennial tree systems with crops, improving soil moisture, regulating temperatures, and storing carbon, especially in rainfed regions.
• Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) encompasses strategies for balanced nutrient use, effective pest management, efficient water use, and soil moisture conservation.
• Environmental benefits of Regenerative agriculture include soil restoration, biodiversity enhancement, climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, and improved water efficiency.
• Economic and social benefits include increased profitability due to reduced input costs, employment generation, and greater resilience to climate variability and market fluctuations.
• This approach aligns with SDG 13 (Climate Action) by strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related risks at the farm level.
• NMNF, launched in 2024, provides an output-based incentive of ₹4,000 per acre per year for two years and supports bio-input resource centers and clusters.
• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), launched in 2015, supports organic farming with ₹31,500 per hectare over three years, covering 16.90 lakh ha by October 2025.
• PDMC, implemented since 2015-16, provides 55% financial assistance to small/marginal farmers and 45% to others for micro-irrigation systems.
• Rainfed Area Development Programme (RAD), since 2014-15, promotes IFS through a cluster approach, providing ₹30,000 per family and covering 9.53 lakh hectares by December 2025.
• The erstwhile Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) was restructured as the Agroforestry Component under Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY) from 2023-24.
• SHC, launched in 2015, provides plot-wise soil test reports every two years with recommendations on appropriate fertilizer use.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Regenerative Agriculture: A holistic farming approach focused on restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and strengthening ecosystem resilience.
• Natural Farming: A chemical-free agricultural approach rooted in traditional knowledge, relying on on-farm biological inputs and minimal soil disturbance.
• Integrated Farming Systems (IFS): A holistic approach combining multiple farm enterprises like crops, livestock, and fisheries to maximize resource use.
• Agroforestry: A land-use system integrating trees and shrubs with crops or livestock on the same land to create more sustainable systems.
• Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA): Strategies and technologies to fortify agricultural systems against the impacts of a changing climate.
• Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC): A government initiative providing farmers with soil test reports and recommendations for balanced fertilizer use.