“How we nourish our soils dictates the crops we grow and ultimately defines our quality of life.” This truth, though timeless, could have been framed by Roosevelt when he warned that “the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” His words, spoken in another era, carry an urgency today that India can no longer afford to ignore. Soil health is not a peripheral concern; it is the foundation of our food security, our water systems, our climate resilience and indeed, our very survival as a nation.
Over the past seventy years, India’s Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), the very lifeblood of soil fertility, has been steadily bleeding away. Multiple studies, including assessments by national research bodies, confirm that average SOC levels have fallen from around one percent to a shocking 0.3 percent in last 70 years. This seemingly small percentage drop represents a profound loss in the soil’s capacity to retain moisture, store nutrients and sustain microbial life. Without the invisible armies of microorganisms that cycle nutrients and create fertile conditions, even fields treated with heavy doses of fertilizers can become unresponsive and infertile. Our agricultural policies and practices have, for decades, leaned on monocropping, deep tillage, excessive irrigation and chemical inputs, all of which have accelerated the depletion of organic matter and destabilized the delicate soil ecosystem.
One comprehensive Indian meta-analysis does report substantial losses in SOC. In comparison to native forest lands, grasslands, plantation lands, cultivated lands, barren lands and horticulture lands showed SOC losses of approximately 36.1%, 35.5%, 31.1%, 27.3%, and 11.5%, respectively. The encouraging finding is that given adequate fallow periods, sometimes as long as fifty years, natural vegetation can reclaim the land and restore 60 to 86 percent of the lost carbon. This tells us that soil degradation is not inevitable; it can be reversed, but only with time, patience and ecological sensitivity.
The crisis in our soils cannot be separated from the crisis in our water. India is the largest extractor of groundwater in the world, withdrawing about a quarter of the planet’s total groundwater each year. Nearly 90 percent of this is used for agriculture. Official estimates from the Central Ground Water Board show that about seventeen percent of our administrative blocks are over-exploited, meaning more water is pumped out than can be naturally replenished. Another five percent are in critical condition and fourteen percent are semi-critical. When groundwater is mined faster than nature can replace it, the damage is not confined to the aquifers; the very structure of the soil above is altered. Falling water tables increase the risk of salinization, a slow poisoning that reduces crop yields and eventually renders the land unfit for cultivation. Compacted, dehydrated soils also lose their ability to host the microbial diversity that underpins fertility. What we are witnessing is a twin erosion, of soil quality and water security, unfolding in parallel, each accelerating the other.
Against this backdrop, the search for a different agricultural model is not just desirable, it is imperative. This is where regenerative agriculture offers a credible and hopeful pathway. At its heart lies the recognition that soil is not an inert medium but a living ecosystem, where countless organisms work in harmony to recycle nutrients, build structure and store carbon. Regenerative agriculture does not seek merely to sustain what remains; it seeks to rebuild what has been lost. It works with nature’s processes instead of overriding them with chemicals and machinery.
Scientific evidence from across the world, and increasingly from India, shows that practices such as cover cropping, conservation tillage, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping and agroforestry can restore organic carbon levels, improve soil structure and enhance water retention. In the Indo-Gangetic Plains, certain cropping systems like maize–wheat and soybean–wheat—have been shown to raise total organic carbon stocks when coupled with organic amendments. Even more fragile landscapes, like those of the Northeastern hills, have demonstrated that given the right conditions, soils can recover a significant portion of their carbon content and biological vitality.
The recent recognition of Bihar Agricultural University for its Climate Resilient Agriculture Programme illustrates how regenerative principles are being adopted at scale. The programme’s emphasis on minimal tillage, organic inputs, water conservation and vermicomposting has benefited tens of thousands of farmers. Similarly, in Jharkhand, the creation of natural farming clusters and bio-input centres is enabling farmers to access the resources they need to shift away from chemical dependence. Efforts by the ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management in Chhattisgarh, which have introduced direct-seeded rice, integrated pest management and biofertilizers to thousands of farmers, further prove that science and tradition can work hand in hand.
PRADAN’s journey over the last decade is deeply intertwined with this shift towards regeneration. Working primarily in the tribal and rainfed heartlands of central India, PRADAN has always seen soil health as the cornerstone of rural livelihoods. Its philosophy is clear: any method that undermines soil health in the pursuit of higher yields is inherently unsustainable. Over the years, PRADAN has refined and promoted an approach that enhances both productivity and soil health, rejecting the simplistic idea that chemical fertilizers can be replaced kilogram for kilogram by organic matter. Instead, it focuses on combining organic matter with a diverse array of microorganisms to accelerate the natural nutrient cycle. This way, the soil is not just a conduit for nutrients but a self-renewing system.
The results have been striking. By encouraging practices such as keeping the soil covered for most of the year, minimizing disturbance, maintaining living roots in the soil, diversifying plant species, integrating livestock and steadily building soil organic matter, PRADAN has helped thousands of farmers transition to methods that improve yields while reducing costs. Across the tribal regions, 172 bio-input resource centres, managed by local entrepreneurs or farmer producer organizations, now produce and supply microbial cultures, compost and other bio-stimulants to around two lakh farmers. The transformation has not been limited to soil and crop health; it has also created local enterprises, reduced input dependency and empowered communities.
Innovations such as paddy–gram relay cropping, agroforestry, agro-horticulture and multilayer farming (where crops of different heights share the same field) have allowed farmers to make better use of land, light and nutrients. These methods not only raise incomes but also cushion farmers against the risks of climate variability. Crucially, PRADAN’s experience underscores that technologies succeed when they are co-created with farmers, adapted to local contexts, and supported by village-level production and marketing systems. Quality control in bio-input production and incentives for their use have been equally important in sustaining the transition.
The promise of regenerative agriculture lies in its ability to deliver on multiple fronts at once. Healthy soils rich in organic matter make better use of nutrients, reduce the need for costly inputs and hold water for longer periods, thus buffering against drought. Crops grown in such soils often have superior nutritional quality and longer shelf life. At the same time, regenerative practices lower greenhouse gas emissions, rebuild biodiversity and restore the resilience of entire landscapes.
But the work ahead is enormous and it cannot be carried by farmers and NGOs alone. If we are to regenerate India’s soils on the scale required, governments must craft policies and incentives that make regenerative practices the norm, not the exception. Corporates must invest in value chains that reward ecological stewardship. Research institutions must refine and test models for different agro-ecological zones. Civil society must continue to mobilize communities and hold all actors accountable to the vision of a healthier, more resilient agricultural system.
Our soils have quietly served us for centuries, absorbing our mistakes and continuing to feed us. Now it is our turn to serve them. The measure of our generation will be the state in which we pass our lands to those who follow. Will they inherit living soils, rich with the biodiversity and organic matter needed to sustain life? Or will they inherit lifeless dust, a legacy of short-term thinking and neglect? The answer lies in the choices we make today.
Roosevelt’s words are not a distant echo from another century; they are a direct challenge to us in this moment. The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself. To restore our soils is to restore our future. Regenerative agriculture is not a nostalgic return to some imagined past, it is a bold step into a sustainable future where the health of the land and the well-being of its people grow together. If we choose to act today, with resolve and unity, we can bequeath to our children and grandchildren fields where the soil remains rich and alive, brimming with vitality, yielding plentiful harvests and sustaining life for generations to come.
By Manas Satpathy
(The content of this article reflects the views of writers and contributors, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)
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