INDIA MATTERS MAY 11 2023

Regenerative Agriculture: A solution for soil degradation

SHATADRU CHATTOPADHAYAY

Regenerative Agriculture can reduce India’s agricultural carbon footprint while boosting
farmers’ income

AGRICULTURAL INDIA LAND DEGRADATION REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

SOIL DEGRADATION SOIL FERTILITY SOIL ORGANIC CARBON WATER WATER CRISIS

Land degradation

Indian agricultural farms are increasingly staring at a crisis, with over 29 percent (96.4 million
hectares) of India’s total geographical area (328.7 million hectares) being degraded, roughly
2.5 times the size of India’s largest state, Rajasthan. The numbers highlight the stiff challenge
India must face to achieve its target of becoming land-degradation-neutral by 2030, as
announced by the Prime Minister in September 2019 at the UN Convention to Combat
Desertification. It can take 500 to 1,000 years for one inch of topsoil—the upper layer of soil
containing the most organic matter and microorganisms—to form. Soil erosion has always
occurred naturally, but today, topsoil loss from erosion due to agriculture surpasses the rate of
soil formation.[i]

Agriculture is the most dominant contributor to water stress, and as much as 91 percent of
our freshwater is now used in the agriculture sector.
To make matters worse, India faces a severe water crisis. Almost 17 states/Union Territories
have been categorised as ‘over-exploited’, where the annual ground water extraction is more
than the annual extractable ground water resource. According to Falkenmark’s Water Stress
Index, about 76 percent of Indians face water scarcity. Agriculture is the most dominant
contributor to water stress, and as much as 91 percent of our freshwater is now used in the

agriculture sector.[ii]

Ecological poverty and loss of soil organic carbon

So far, all the wins for reducing income poverty could be undone by growing ecological
poverty which is the “lack of an ecologically healthy natural resource base that is needed for a
human society’s survival and development”. The Indian smallholder farmers constitute 86
percent of the farmers in the country, with an average land holding of 1.08 hectares. They are
most vulnerable to ecological poverty. In the last two decades, India’s agricultural sector has
suffered negative total revenues. The small size and low profitability do not allow smallholder
farmers to deploy relevant technologies to fight climate change, instead, they are forced to
increase yields through unsustainable practices like deforestation, overgrazing, intensive soil
tillage, monoculture cropping, bare fallowing, and heavy reliance on the use of chemical
fertilisers and biocides. These practices damage the microorganisms which makes the soil
fertile, carbon-rich. Scientific organisations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change are concerned about such practices because they increase the emission of greenhouse
gases (GHG). Agriculture already contributes 25-30 percent of the total GHG emissions,
globally.

Regenerative agriculture: A potential solution

A consensus is emerging among soil scientists that regenerative agriculture holds enormous
potential to restore soil health and productivity in degraded landscapes while delivering
financial benefits to smallholder farmers. It also improves water use and efficiency by
enhancing the health and nutrient-holding capacity of the soil. Studies have established that a 1-
percent increase in soil organic matter per 0.4 hectare (ha) increases water storage potential by

more than 75,000 litres[iii]. There is now evidence from long-term field experiments globally
that proves regenerative agricultural practices can significantly increase soil organic carbon

stocks.[iv] The Government of India, as part of its climate commitment, has begun promoting
several regenerative agriculture principles through National Mission for Sustainable
Agriculture.
 The Government of India, as part of its climate commitment, has begun promoting several
regenerative agriculture principles through National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.
Defining regenerative agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is commonly defined as a “way of farming to build and improve soil
fertility, whilst sequestering and storing atmospheric CO2, increasing on-farm diversity and
improving water and energy management”. It is increasingly getting standardised with different
voluntary schemes offering third-party certifications from audit agencies. The main standards
operational in India are regenagri and Regenerative Organic Certified®. Regenagri is developed
jointly by the world’s oldest sustainability organisation Solidaridad, and global certification
organisation—Control Union, and has so far brought 1.25 million acres of land under
regenerative practices. Several food businesses like Unilever, Nestle, etc. are also developing
business-specific regenerative agriculture standards.

Debates on soil carbon credits through regenerative agriculture

There is much debate on the potential of regenerative agriculture to store carbon in the soil.
Some studies doubt the durability of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and challenge satellite-based
measurement techniques. Some suggest sequestering carbon via agroforestry is a more
foolproof method than SOC. But such critiques need to pay attention to several scientific papers
that establish an estimated potential of 1.5 gigatons of carbon (GtCO2) per year for cropland
sequestration globally, or approximately 55 GtCO2 over a mid-range saturation period of 35-40
years. The potential for carbon removal increases further if practices like composting municipal
food waste, tree cropping, hedgerows and other cropland buffers, and pasture restoration or

biochar are included in the calculation[v]. Regenerative agriculture, therefore, can and should
play a significant role in tackling climate change, with the potential to remove 100-200 GtCO2
by the end of the century which is several times more than the present level of emissions.

How do small Indian farmers benefit from regenerative agriculture?

There are four fundamental benefits for Indian small farmers opting for carbon sequestration
using regenerative agricultural practices. Firstly, SOC helps restore degraded soils using less
water, improving farmers’ agricultural productivity while reducing costs due to reduced use of
fertilisers and chemicals. Secondly, healthier soils make farms more resilient against droughts
and heavy rainfall. Thirdly, the process can generate additional income from the rapidly
expanding voluntary carbon credit markets. A carbon credit is a certificate equivalent to 1 ton
of carbon that permits the emission of one ton of greenhouse gases per certificate.

Many FMCG companies are asking farmer suppliers to adopt targets to cut emissions using
regenerative agriculture and prioritising partnerships with new suppliers who already have
regenerative practices in place.
As per Solidaridad’s field analysis, a smallholder farmer in India can potentially sequester 1
tCO2 (1 ton of carbon) to 4 tCO2 by adopting regenerative practices on 1 hectare of land. Per
ton of carbon, today is priced at INR 1500 to INR 2,500 (EUR 15-20), which could be a
significant revenue source for the farmers. Fourthly, many FMCG companies are asking farmer
suppliers to adopt targets to cut emissions using regenerative agriculture and prioritising
partnerships with new suppliers who already have regenerative practices in place. Smallholders
who are traditionally excluded from high-value supply chains would be able to grow inclusively
by becoming regenerative farmers.

Solidaridad Asia’s field experience with regenagri certification supporting more than 13,000
cotton smallholder farmers in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, dispelled the myth that regenerative
agriculture reduces yield. In 2020-22, the project achieved a 20 to 30 percent increase in yield,
a 30-percent reduction in input costs and a 3percent price premium from the market. Similar
results were witnessed in pilots with palm oil smallholders in Malaysia, Indonesia, and India;
sugar, soy, and coffee smallholders in India; and mango farmers in Bangladesh.

Four hurdles for regenerative agriculture and potential solutions

At present, much interest in regenerative agriculture is driven by the high carbon prices in the
European Union that hit 100 euros (US$ 106.57) per ton earlier this year. The more emitters
have to pay for EU carbon permits to cover each ton of C02 they produce, the greater the
incentive to invest in low-carbon farming methods like regenerative agriculture. “The annual
demand for voluntary carbon credit in India is expected to touch 500+ million tCO2 by 2030”.

However, there are some potential challenges which could derail this positive movement. First,
it is necessary to recognise that farmers are the producers and owners of carbon. There should
be mechanisms for trading in SOC using the principles of Fair Trade that calculate a minimum
price that ensures the average costs of the projects will be covered, plus an additional “Fairtrade
Premium” goes directly to the local community to fund activities that help them become more
resilient through regenerative agriculture.

The subsidies for smallholder farmers could be extended to certification bodies enrolled with
the Quality Council of India—the national accreditation body for certifications in India.
Second, in August 2022, India revised its carbon credit policies to ban the export of carbon
credits. As per the new policy, “carbon credits are not going to be exported. These credits will
have to be generated by domestic companies, bought by domestic companies.” Such a policy
would limit the options for smallholder farmers. These farmers took lower prices for decades to
keep the consumer prices stable and were not allowed to export food at higher prices. If we stop
them from storing carbon on their land and export at least part of the carbon in the form of
carbon credits at higher prices, they will lose out again.
Third, the Government may consider schemes like Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana to be
extended to regenerative agriculture farmers. The certification costs for regenerative agriculture
and carbon verification are steep. The subsidies for smallholder farmers could be extended to
certification bodies enrolled with the Quality Council of India—the national accreditation body
for certifications in India.

Fourth, the mushrooming of different regenerative standards can derail the credibility of the
regenerative agriculture movement and affect smallholder farmers. There is a necessity for
urgently developing a set of common values for regenerative agriculture standards, their
certification protocols, systems and tools with a focus on the positive impact on farmers as well
as climate.

Conclusion
Climate change mitigation, food security, climate resilience, biodiversity, and soil health are all
interrelated and these could be collectively achieved through regenerative agriculture. In this
COVID-affected decade, Indian agriculture stakeholders must redesign agriculture the way it
was done in the 1960s, which ushered in the Green Revolution. We don’t have much time to
regenerate and revive our soil and avoid the depletion of water resources. On the other hand,
regenerative agriculture is good for the people, the planet, and profit.

Shatadru Chattopadhayay is Managing Director, Solidaridad Asia.

[i] Renee Cho, “Why Soil Matters”, State of the Planet Journal, Columbia University, April,

2012

[ii] Kayatz, B., Harris, F., Hillier, J., Adhya, T., Dalin, C., Nayak, D., et al. (2019). “More crop

per drop”: exploring India’s cereal water use since 2005. Sci. Total Environ. 673, 207–217. doi:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.304

[iii] Anamika Yadav, Down to Earth, December 2022

[iv] Poeplau, C. & Don, A. (2015). Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils via cultivation of

cover crops–A meta- analysis. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 200:33- 41

[v] Roe, S. et al. (2019). Contribution of the land sector to a 1.5 °C world. Nature Climate

Change. 9, pp. 817–828

The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

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