Regenerative Farming Methods

Topic- Agriculture [GS Paper-3]

Context- Recently, the experience of farmers in Madhya Pradesh who follow regenerative farming methods finds the reduced need for frequent irrigation that conserves water and energy. 

Key Highlights 

• Regenerative agriculture is a way of farming which focuses on soil health.
• When soil is healthy, it produces more food and nutrition, stores more carbon and increases biodiversity. 
• It involves the use of natural inputs, minimum-till, mulching, multi-cropping and sowing of diverse and native varieties. 
• Natural inputs help improve soil structure and the organic carbon content of soil.
• Planting water-guzzling and water-efficient crops together or in alternating cycles helps reduce the frequency and intensity of irrigation. 
• They conserve energy used by irrigation aids like pumps.
• In India, the Union government is promoting regenerative agriculture with an aim to reduce the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and to lower input costs.

Regenerative agriculture needed

• Soil degradation: 
  • Agriculture today, including the use of heavy machinery, fertilizers and pesticides to maximize food production, is vastly contributing to soil degradation and loss.
  • Within 50 years, there may not be enough soil left to feed people of the world, according to the regenerative farming organization Regeneration International.
• Climate Change:
  •  Intensive farming churns up CO2 naturally stored in soil and releases it into the atmosphere. This also contributes to the global warming that is driving climate change.
  • Agriculture accounts for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the United Nations (UN).
• Extreme events: 
  • Damaged soil and eroded land can make environments vulnerable to extreme weather events like flooding, which are increasing in frequency and intensity as the Earth warms.

Potential Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture

• Multiple benefits: 

Regenerative farming can improve

• Crop yields
• Volume of crops produced
• Health of soil
• Soil’s ability to retain water
• Reducing soil erosion.

• Feeding people: 
  • Improved yields will help feed the world as the global population increases.
• Environmental benefits: 
  • The farming method can reduce emissions from agriculture and turn the croplands and pastures, which cover up to 40% of Earth’s ice-free land area, into carbon sinks. 
  • These are environments which naturally absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. 

Major Challenges associated with Agriculture 

• Groundwater: 
  • The Green Revolution of the 1960s pulled India from the brink of starvation, transformed the country’s ability to feed itself and turned it into a huge food exporter. But the revolution made India the world’s biggest extractor of groundwater.
  • According to the UN’s World Water Development Report, 2022, the country extracts 251 cubic km or more than a quarter of the world’s groundwater withdrawal every year.
  • 90 percent of this water is used for irrigation.
• No gain in production: 
  • A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, shows that over 39 million hectares (ha) of area in the country under wheat, rice and maize have not shown improvement in the past decade.
• Degrading soil health: 
  • A 2022 report by Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), State of Bio Fertilizers and Organic Fertilizers in India, shows the severe and widespread lack of organic carbon and micronutrients in Indian soils.
• Lack of scientific study: 
  • Civil society organizations and farmers do not have the capacity to conduct long-term scientific studies.

Way forward

• Sustainable farming: As per the UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2022 if agriculture is to continue to feed the country’s undernourished population of 224.5 million then it needs to work in harmony with nature, not against it.
• Chemical-less farming: Farmers, activists and agricultural research organizations across the world are developing methods of chemical-less agriculture which uses natural inputs and cultivation practices such as crop rotation and diversification which fall under the wider umbrella of regenerative agriculture.
• Soil Health: As per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, healthy soil helps in better water storage, transmission, filtering and reduces agricultural run-off.
• Studies have established that one percent growth in soil organic matter (an indicator of soil health) per 0.4 ha increases water storage potential by more than 75,000 liters.
• Global practice: This practice is used in countries such as Latin America, the United States, Canada, Africa, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
• Application in India: States such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Gujarat have introduced schemes to promote it.
• Research: Concerted research is required to understand the role of regenerative agriculture in saving water. The scientific findings will help inform policy measures and future initiatives.
• The National Project on Organic Farming is the country’s largest experiment on the practice, ongoing since 2004 and conducted by ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research to promote organic farming. 

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