smallholder farmers are caught in a cycle: unsustainable practices and climate stress are depleting their soil — and their net incomes with it.
farmers know the soil needs regeneration — but for a smallholder, the transition to regenerative farming is a massive risk today:
Yield risk — yields often dip in the first 2–3 years of transition, and smallholdings under 2 ha leave no room to absorb a single bad season.
Inconvenient & labour-intensive — mulching, composting, intercropping demand more work.
Knowledge-intensive — regen is context-specific, and extension systems don’t adequately reach smallholders.
Weak financing — weak market premiums, no short-term income protection.
90%+ of India’s farmers remain locked into chemical-intensive practices — not for lack of will, but because the system makes the right thing the risky thing.
Degraded soils respond fastest to regeneration. Expert consultations show that highly degraded soils (SOC ≤ 0.3%) can gain 0.2%–0.3% of organic carbon within just two years — when regenerative practices are combined with novel biologicals.
Can we regenerate 5% of India’s soil in the next 5 years?
farmer-centric, low-risk, high-yield regen pathways to regenerate India’s soil and improve farmers’ income.
Double soil organic carbon within 24 months and increase smallholder farmer net incomes by at least 25% through tech-enabled, replicable transition models for regenerative agriculture, reaching 5,000–10,000 farmers across at least 5,000 hectares within a cluster.
Who should apply?
Non-profits & CSOs working across — or beyond — market linkages, input optimisation, capacity building & advisory, natural resource management, agroforestry, and more.
Scalable partnership models are welcome — Projects may involve relevant collaborators, the applications must be led by an eligible non-profit organisation.
Eligibility — any organisation registered as a Section 8 company holding valid CSR-1, 12A and 80G certificates can secure the grant.
