World Food Day (October 16), themed “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future”, marked FAO’s 80th year, highlighting regenerative agriculture to restore soil health, boost biodiversity, and ensure climate resilience and nutritional security.

Regenerative Agriculture– A Path to Sustainable Food Systems

• Concept and Definition: Regenerative Agriculture (RA) is a holistic farming approach that aims to restore and enhance soil, water, and biodiversity health while maintaining productivity.
• Focus: Unlike conventional agriculture, which focuses on yield maximisation, RA focuses on ecosystem regeneration, ensuring long-term ecological, economic, and social sustainability.

Key Principles of Regenerative Agriculture

• Soil Health Restoration: Focuses on rebuilding soil organic carbon and microbial activity through practices like minimal tillage, crop rotation, cover cropping, and composting, ensuring long-term fertility and resilience.
• Biodiversity Promotion: Encourages multi-species cropping systems, agroforestry, and pollinator habitats, which enhance ecosystem stability and natural pest regulation.
• Climate Resilience: Strengthens the ecosystem’s capacity to sequester carbon, regulate microclimate, and mitigate climate change impacts through sustainable land practices.
• Nutritional Security Enhancement: Improves the nutrient density of food by restoring soil health, ensuring bioavailable micronutrients in crops, and reducing dependence on chemical inputs.

Key Differences- Extractive vs Regenerative Agriculture

Rising Ecological Stress & India’s Soil Health Crisis

• Population Pressure: Humanity’s population grew from 1 billion (1804) to 8.2 billion (present), creating intense strain on the planet’s finite natural resources.
• Land Limitation: Only 29% of Earth’s surface is land, with 10.7% cultivated, now suffering from overuse and pollution.
• Indian Scenario: Despite 52% arable land, India faces resource depletion and environmental degradation, endangering agriculture’s long-term sustainability.
  • Critical Decline: Average soil organic carbon <0.3%, far below the 1% benchmark recommended by various experts.
  • Regional Impact: States like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan face severe soil exhaustion, requiring urgent rehabilitation.
• Need for Action: Advocates creation of a National Mission on Regenerative Agriculture to revive soil and secure agriculture’s ecological base.

Challenges to Achieving Regenerative Agriculture

• Soil Degradation: India’s soils are heavily depleted, with an average organic carbon level below 0.3%, far below the minimum recommended level of 1%.
• Over-reliance on Chemical Inputs: The Green Revolution’s legacy of high-yielding varieties and excessive use of synthetic fertilizers has led to long-term environmental harm.
• Policy Gaps: Current policies do not provide enough incentives for growing pulses and oilseeds, which are essential for regenerative agriculture.
• Lack of Coordination: While innovation in regenerative practices is happening, private sector efforts often lack alignment with governmental support and research.

Historical Lessons – The Green Revolution

• Technological Breakthroughs: Development of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties (Borlaug, Beachell, Khush) ensured food security and prevented famine.
• Industrial Innovation: The Haber-Bosch process enabled synthetic fertilizer production, boosting yields globally.
• Unintended Consequences: Overuse and nutrient imbalance (N:P:K) led to soil degradation, GHG emissions, and groundwater contamination in India.

Innovation and Private Sector Initiatives

• Government Efforts: Atal Innovation Mission and Anusandhan NRF still evolving, with limited breakthroughs.
• Private Leadership: Firms like AgVaya and BioSTL, with ICRIER as partner, co-hosted a seminar on “Innovations for Regenerative Agriculture.”
• Global AgXelerate Launch: Platform to link agri-innovators with global markets, promoting knowledge exchange and scaling innovation.
  • Lesson: Grassroots innovation, when supported by the right ecosystem, can drive agricultural transformation.

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Way Forward

• Focus on Nutritional Security: The Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses aims to increase pulse production, promoting self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on imports.
• Policy Reform: Implement crop-neutral incentives for pulses and oilseeds, providing equal market support as for staple crops like wheat and rice.
• Investment in Research: Enhance agri-research and development (R&D) to boost productivity and resilience, ensuring that regenerative practices are scalable and sustainable.
• Framework for Transformation – The 4 Ps: Transformation demands synergy of Policies, Products, Practices, and Partnerships.
• Innovation Role: Drives new technologies and sustainable agri-solutions.
• Collaboration Role: Ensures effective scaling, adoption, and implementation through coordinated partnerships.
  • Public-Private Partnerships: Strengthen collaborations between government, private sector, and farmers to scale up regenerative practices and ensure effective implementation.
  • Global Collaboration: Initiatives like the Global AgXelerate platform and collaborations between India and international entities can help bring innovative solutions to the agricultural sector.

Conclusion

Regenerative agriculture holds the key to restoring soil health, ensuring nutritional security, and fostering biodiversity in India. By adopting this approach and supporting it through policies, innovation, and collaboration, India can build a more sustainable and resilient agricultural future.

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