India’s farms have sustained agricultural growth, but long-term productivity depends on healthy soils and resilient ecosystems. Regenerative agriculture offers a pathway to restore soil vitality, improve biodiversity, and strengthen resilience against climate stresses. Across the country, farmers are adopting practices such as natural farming, agroforestry, micro-irrigation, integrated farming systems, and scientific soil management. Government support has accelerated this transition. As of March 2026, natural farming clusters covered 8.80 lakh hectares and enrolled 18.19 lakh farmers. About 109 lakh hectares have been brought under Per Drop More Crop as of May 2026. In addition, 25.89 crore Soil Health Cards have been generated since inception, as of March 2026. These efforts are helping build a more productive, resource-efficient, and environmentally responsible future for Indian agriculture.
The Imperative for Regenerative Agriculture
India’s agriculture and allied sectors have demonstrated strong and sustained progress. During FY16-FY25, it recorded decadal growth of 4.45 percent, the highest in previous decades. This achievement reflects the resilience of the sector and the continued efforts of farmers across the country. Yet, sustaining this momentum requires strengthening the ecological foundations that support long-term agricultural productivity.
Each season, farmers return to the same fields with renewed hope and growing responsibility. Years of intensive cultivation, heavy chemical use, and erratic rainfall leave many soils tired and less responsive. Yields that once came easily now demand higher inputs, while heatwaves, dry spells, or excess rain can undo months of labour. For millions of small and marginal farmers, declining soil health often translates into higher costs and uncertain harvests. As a result, the sustainability of farming has become an increasingly important concern.
This is where Regenerative Agriculture finds its relevance. By rebuilding soil vitality, strengthening ecosystem functions, and improving resilience to climatic variability, it addresses both soil and productivity challenges. More importantly, it offers a pathway to revive India’s agricultural foundations while supporting long-term environmental balance and farm prosperity.
Understanding the Regenerative Agriculture Approach
Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming approach centred on restoring soil health and enhancing biodiversity. At the same time, it seeks to ensure long-term productivity and resilience in farming systems. Healthy soils support higher food and nutritional output, store more carbon, and promote biodiversity. Unlike sustainable farming, which primarily aims to maintain existing conditions, regenerative agriculture seeks to improve them. It goes a step further by actively rebuilding soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and strengthening ecosystem resilience.
It is based on the following principles:
Minimizing soil disturbance
Protecting the living roots of perennial crops
Maintaining soil cover
Integrating Livestock
Limiting the use of chemical inputs
Enhancing biodiversity
In essence, Regenerative agriculture offers a practical and forward-looking pathway for the future of farming by restoring the natural foundations of agriculture.
Strengthening Agricultural Resilience through Regenerative Approaches
Regenerative agriculture draws upon a diverse set of farming practices adopted in India. While the spectrum of regenerative approaches is much broader, some of the prominent practices can be broadly classified into the following categories:
Water and Resource Efficiency
Micro-irrigation systems such as drippers, sprinklers, and foggers deliver water directly to plant roots. This reduces water wastage and improves water-use efficiency. By optimizing farm-level water management, these systems enhance crop productivity and strengthen resilience to droughts and water stress. As a result, farming systems become more climate-resilient and economically viable.
Farm Mechanization involves the use of agricultural machinery and equipment to streamline and automate various farm operations. It helps optimize the use of key inputs such as water, fuel, and fertilizers, reducing wastage and lowering the carbon footprint. By enabling timely and precise farm operations, mechanization improves resource management, enhances productivity, and helps reduce the environmental impact of farming.
Soil and Nutrient Management
Nitrogen Fertilizer Management helps reduce nitrous oxide emissions while improving crop productivity. It focuses on selecting the right fertilizer and optimizing application timing and dosage. Other practices include deep placement of supergranular urea and the use of leaf color charts for precise assessment of nitrogen status. The approach also promotes biological inputs such as cyanobacteria and legume intercropping. Overall, these measures improve nitrogen-use efficiency and minimize environmental losses.
Natural farming is a chemical-free agricultural approach rooted in India’s traditional knowledge systems. The system relies on on-farm biological inputs such as Beejamrut, Jeevamrut, GhanJeevamrut, Neemastra, and Dashparni, prepared using inputs from native livestock. It also promotes the use of traditional seed varieties and the integration of trees along farm boundaries. Pest management is undertaken through locally prepared, on-farm botanical formulations. Practitioners are encouraged to adopt continuous cover cropping, multi-cropping, mulching, and minimal soil disturbance to maintain soil fertility and ecological balance. The integration of livestock with diversified cropping systems further helps improve soil health, restores ecosystems, and reduces input costs for farmers.
Soil Health Management Practices such as green manuring, cover cropping, and mulching play a vital role in regenerative agriculture. Green manuring involves growing and incorporating specific crops into the soil to add organic matter and nutrients. It helps in improving soil fertility, structure, and carbon sequestration. Cover cropping refers to growing crops primarily to cover the soil rather than for harvest. It protects against erosion, maintains soil organic carbon, and supports nutrient cycling. Mulching involves covering the soil surface with organic residues such as leaves, straw, etc. It helps conserve moisture and regulate soil temperature. Mulching also suppresses weeds, promotes beneficial microbial activity, and improves crop productivity.
Integrated and Climate-Resilient Farming Systems
Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) is a holistic agricultural approach that combines multiple farm enterprises into a single system. It integrates crops, livestock, fisheries, and allied activities such as horticulture, agroforestry, and apiculture. The approach promotes practices such as intercropping, crop rotation, multi-cropping, and mixed farming that maximize resource use. This also reduces the risk of crop failure, diversifies livelihood opportunities, and enhances resilience to climate extremes such as floods and droughts.
Agroforestry integrates perennial tree systems with fruit and plantation crops to create a more sustainable and profitable farming system. It helps farmers earn additional income while improving soil moisture, regulating local temperatures, and storing more carbon.
In rainfed regions, agroforestry plays a crucial role in rejuvenating degraded land. These systems help mitigate the impacts of unpredictable rainfall, enhance agricultural resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions over time.
Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) encompasses a plethora of strategies and technologies to fortify agricultural systems against a changing climate. Its key components include:
balanced use of nutrients and fertilizers,
effective pest management,
efficient and judicious use of water,
conservation of soil moisture at the field level,
and appropriate land preparation practices that safeguard soil health and enhance crop performance.
In addition, CRA includes innovations such as water-sharing groups, seed and fodder systems, community nurseries, and collective marketing mechanisms. Together, these practices and innovations strengthen agricultural systems, enabling them to better withstand climate-related stresses and shocks.
The Multifaceted Benefits of Regenerative Farming
Regenerative agriculture offers a wide range of environmental, economic, and social benefits, supporting both healthy ecosystems and resilient farming.
