KARACHI: Regenerative agriculture (RA) is emerging as a promising approach to restoring soil health and promoting more sustainable farming practices in Pakistan, as intensive cultivation and excessive reliance on agricultural inputs continue to degrade soil quality.
RA focuses on improving the health and structure of soil by reducing disturbance through zero or low tillage, increasing organic matter, enhancing biodiversity and crop diversification, and reducing dependence on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.
Unlike organic agriculture, which generally covers an entire production chain, regenerative agriculture places particular emphasis on rebuilding soil health as the foundation for sustainable agricultural productivity.
Experts say intensive cropping has exhausted soils in many farming areas. Regenerative and natural farming approaches encourage the use of farmyard manure, green manure and crop residues to restore organic matter and revive beneficial organisms in the soil.
Inayat Rajpar, a soil sciences expert at Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, said conventional fertiliser application primarily benefits crops, while regenerative agriculture focuses on enriching the soil itself.
He urged farmers to use green manure, including leguminous crops such as lentils and fodder, along with farmyard manure and crop residues instead of selling or removing them from farms. As these materials decompose, they increase organic matter and help improve soil fertility.
Rajpar said farmers often cultivate minor crops even during the short interval between the kharif and rabi seasons instead of leaving fields fallow. He argued that the practice could further contribute to soil exhaustion.
He cited the example of the United Kingdom, where farmers receive government subsidies to grow cover crops, including legumes that fix nitrogen in the soil. Such policy support, he said, was largely absent in Pakistan, encouraging farmers to continue intensive back-to-back cultivation.
Cover or break crops can also help reduce soil erosion caused by floods and strong winds while improving soil fertility. However, Rajpar stressed that fertility was only one component of productivity and that problems such as salinity and waterlogging also needed to be addressed.
In Sindh, a private-sector company has begun working with farmers in Khairpur Mirs and Naushahro Feroz districts to introduce regenerative agriculture and organic farming practices. Farmers are being trained in appropriate tillage techniques and the use of suitable agricultural equipment.
Farmer Suleman Siyal of Faiz Ganj, Khairpur, said regenerative agriculture had reduced his cotton yield from around 25-27 maunds to 17-18 maunds per acre, but significantly lowered his production costs.
He said the approach had also helped conserve irrigation water and reduced his dependence on urea, DAP and repeated pesticide applications.
For many small farmers, reducing input costs is particularly important because they frequently borrow money from private lenders to purchase fertilisers, pesticides and other agricultural inputs. The loans, along with interest, are often recovered from farmers’ produce at harvest.
Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) President Mahmood Nawaz Shah said regenerative agriculture was not a new concept for him, as he had been practising several of its principles for years.
He said maintaining adequate organic matter remained difficult without technical guidance. Despite years of using farmyard and green manure, retaining crop residues, reducing pesticide use and adding canal silt, he said he had only managed to increase soil organic matter slightly.
Shah cautioned that adopting regenerative agriculture across an entire farm could impose significant commercial costs on farmers. He called for a gradual transition supported by research, technical assistance and field demonstrations showing farmers how to improve soil fertility without jeopardising their livelihoods.
Former Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) chairman Dr Yusuf Zafar said regenerative agriculture was part of a global movement focused on improving soil health while maintaining balanced food production through sustainable farming practices.
He noted that regenerative agriculture does not necessarily prohibit synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, but encourages their balanced and properly documented use.
Dr Zafar described soil as a living ecosystem containing billions of microbes, fungi and insects, most of which are beneficial. He explained that important nutrient cycles involving nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and other elements occur through interactions between soil and the atmosphere.
According to him, healthy soil should contain at least 2 per cent organic matter, while organic matter levels in many Pakistani soils remain between 0.4 and 0.7 per cent. He added that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) refers to around 4 per cent organic matter in soil structure.
Dr Zafar also warned that imbalanced fertiliser application can cause nutrients to leach through the soil and contaminate groundwater aquifers. Given Pakistan’s heavy dependence on groundwater for both agriculture and drinking water, nitrate contamination could pose serious risks to public health.
He said plants absorb only about 30 per cent of applied phosphate, with much of the remainder potentially being lost through leaching.
The growing discussion around regenerative agriculture highlights the need for Pakistan to balance food production with long-term soil health, water security and environmental sustainability. Experts say a successful transition will require research, farmer education, technical support and policies that make sustainable practices economically viable.
