The consensus around climate change and the starkly visible environmental effects of the Anthropocene have sparked various questions about how humans live. As sustainability is being scrutinised from various perspectives, such as transport, housing, manufacturing, etc., farming and food systems are also coming under the scanner for their effects on the planet and their importance in sustaining the world’s population.
For a developing country like India, the most populous nation-state in the world, any alteration to its food systems has multiple social, economic, and political implications. Agriculture in India, in addition to feeding an estimated 1.45 billion people, also employs around 45% of its citizens, either directly or indirectly. Agriculture is, therefore, intrinsic to the lives of millions of Indians, and the threat of climate change poses a significant risk to this population, whose lives and livelihoods are closely connected to the fortunes of agriculture.
Agriculture appears poised for a significant shift that would enable humans to produce and consume food that is both ecologically sustainable and nutritionally optimal, while also being operationally viable. Regenerative agriculture, by being more sustainable and diverse, reduces long-term risks and provides an opportunity for Indian farming households to weather uncertain climates. However, any such shift would need to be accompanied by enabling conditions in which finance is the primary factor.
In this paper, we aim to identify the challenges and opportunities in financing regenerative agriculture within the context of smallholder farming in India and offer suggestions for enhancing the financing of regenerative agriculture in the country.
Read the full paper here.
