Regenerative Agriculture as Pathways for Sustainable Food Systems Transformation in Low-Income Countries: Insights from Global Experiences (A Review)

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Takeaways include quantitative evidence on RA impacts (yield, carbon, pesticide reduction) and barriers to scaling in low-income contexts.

🏢実務担当者:Corporate sustainability teams can use this to understand RA's potential in supply chains, though focus is on smallholder farmers in developing countries.

🏛政策担当者:Policymakers should note the call for integrated landscape approaches, renewable energy integration, and subsidy reform to support RA.

Current global evidence underscores the need for profound transformations in food production and consumption systems to sustainably feed a projected population of 10 billion by 2050. Such transformations are also essential to halt and reverse ecosystem degradation, protect biodiversity, conserve freshwater and soil resources, and limit global warming to below 1.5°C. At the same time, nearly one-third of global soils are moderately to severely degraded due to intensive agricultural practices. In the European Union alone, soil degradation is estimated to cost €97 billion annually, with a substantial share linked to human health impacts. Agriculture is also a major driver of biodiversity loss, threatening approximately 62% of globally at-risk species, largely due to land-use change and the widespread use of chemical pesticides. Although around 35% of global crop production depends on pollinators, more than 40% of insect species are in decline, with one-third facing potential extinction. Fertilizer application is also a major source of Nitrous Oxide (N₂O), a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO₂, with an atmospheric lifetime exceeding a century. Beyond environmental impacts, the agricultural sector is closely linked to persistent social and health challenges driven by inequalities within the global food system. More than 500 million farmers and fishers live in poverty, while nearly 800 million people experience hunger and approximately 2 billion are overweight or obese. Agriculture is the largest consumer of freshwater, accounting for about 70% of global withdrawals. The agri-food sector contributes roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, driven by unsustainable crop and livestock production, land-use change, deforestation, and food loss and waste. The accumulation of Methane (CH₄), Nitrous Oxide (N₂O), and Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) continues to intensify global warming. Climate change is already affecting agricultural productivity, with projections indicating significant yield declines, including up to 22% reductions in maize yields in parts of Europe and as much as 49% reductions in wheat yields in Southern Europe. Achieving the 1.5°C climate target will require halting further land-use change and restoring hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded ecosystems by 2050. In this context, this review aims to synthesize global evidence, foster collaboration and knowledge exchange, and draw on both successes and failures to inform the adaptation of regenerative agriculture practices in developing countries. These challenges highlight the urgent need to transition toward a more sustainable and equitable agri-food system—one that minimizes environmental impacts while enhancing resilience and securing livelihoods for farmers. Regenerative Agriculture (RA) offers a promising pathway by restoring ecosystems, improving soil health, enhancing productivity, and strengthening climate resilience through a set of guiding principles and practices. However, there is no single solution; scaling RA requires a combination of complementary strategies implemented in context-specific ways. Studies from the Rodale Institute, drawing on experiences from across 57 low-income countries, report average yield increases of 79%, with gains of up to 116% in African contexts. These practices have also improved water-use efficiency and reduced pesticide use by up to 71%, alongside yield increases of around 42% in many cases. Additional research across 20 African countries indicates that integrating composted manure with crop rotations can sequester up to 2,000 pounds of carbon per acre annually, compared to annual losses of nearly 300 pounds per acre in conventionally tilled systems reliant on synthetic fertilizers. Similarly, findings from long-term farming systems trials show that regenerative systems can increase yields by up to 40% under drought conditions, generate 3–6 times higher profits, reduce energy use by approximately 45%, and lower carbon emissions by up to 40%, while minimizing harmful chemical runoff. Therefore, to bring holistic agri-food system transformation, we need to mainstream RA in the existing farming system at land scape rather than farm level, apply RA practices in aggregate instead of fragmentation, and application of Productive Use of Renewable Energy as an enabler, redirect subsidies and incentives toward soil restoration, carbon storage, composting, and agroforestry. Despite these demonstrated benefits and recommendations, transitioning to regenerative agriculture still requires time, patience, access to finance, inclusion, sustainable energy, enabling policy frameworks, strong stakeholder collaboration, increased awareness across value chain actors, more robust and long-term evidence generation to effectively measure and track outcomes.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.33425/2641-4295.1103first seen 2026-07-20 05:44:05