Rediscovering Climate-Friendly Cultural Practices in Indian Agriculture

India’s agriculture has always been more than a system of food production—it is a living tapestry of culture, tradition, and ecological knowledge. For centuries, farming communities cultivated in ways that aligned with nature, balancing productivity with stewardship of land and water. Today, as the climate crisis intensifies, these cultural practices are no longer just heritage—they are pathways to resilience and innovation.

Agriculture is both impacted and impact climate change. Extreme heat, erratic rainfall, and soil degradation threaten livelihoods, while conventional practices—excessive fertilizer use, monocultures, and groundwater over-extraction—contribute to emissions.

The common narrative has been to “modernize” farming through mechanisation and inputs. But technology is not necessarily the solution to everything. Specialisation without integration creates fragility. What we need now is a systems lens, one that combines modern science with the embedded intelligence of cultural practices. Systems is about integration- in this case integrating knowledge from age old wisdom with what science validates.

Cultural Practices have long demonstrated climate wisdom. Those who study and analyze agricultural practices can validate how ancient wisdom has dominated planting, watering and harvesting based on weather. It also reveals man's symbiotic relationship with nature - a relationship that has helped human beings take advantage of the signs of nature. Interesting examples include:

• Diverse Cropping Systems

  Intercropping and mixed farming, such as pulses with cereals, offered natural nitrogen fixation, pest resistance, and dietary diversity. These are precisely the kinds of practices that modern “climate-smart agriculture” seeks to replicate.

• Millets as Climate Crops

  Once dismissed as “coarse grains,” millets are now recognized as superfoods. They require less water, thrive in drylands, and provide high nutrition. Their revival demonstrates how aligning consumer behaviour with traditional crops can create climate and market wins simultaneously.

• Water Harvesting Heritage

  From stepwells in Gujarat to ahars and pynes in Bihar, water management systems ensured resilience in semi-arid zones. Reviving these principles, and augmenting them with modern hydrological science, could offer scalable solutions to India’s water-stressed agriculture.

• Natural Soil Nutrition

  Organic soil inputs such as panchagavya and farmyard manure supported soil carbon long before carbon markets existed. Today, these practices can be linked to regenerative agriculture frameworks and monetized through carbon finance.

• Community Farming and Seed Sharing

  Traditional systems of collective management and sacred groves embedded resilience at the community level. In an era of fragmented landholdings, digital cooperatives and farmer-producer organizations can carry this principle forward.

This being an area of interest, I cite here examples of climate friendly agriculture that sometimes leaves us wondering why we have not found ways to scale or replicate to create the vibrant agriculture economy that could drive the nation and relief it of issues like ending hunger.

• Deccan Development Society, Telangana

  Women farmers in Telangana have revived millet cultivation using traditional mixed farming systems. Their practices not only enhance soil fertility and biodiversity but also empower communities with food sovereignty. This cultural revival aligns seamlessly with climate mitigation and adaptation goals.

• ZBNF in Andhra Pradesh

  The state’s adoption of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), drawing on traditional organic inputs like cow dung and urine, shows how cultural wisdom can scale. Millions of farmers are transitioning to chemical-free farming, reducing emissions while improving soil health.

• Watershed Revival in Rajasthan

  In Alwar district, the revival of traditional johads (small check dams) by communities under Tarun Bharat Sangh has restored groundwater levels, enabling farmers to cultivate with greater climate resilience. What began as a cultural memory became a climate adaptation model.

• Sacred Groves in Maharashtra

  Community-managed sacred groves have preserved biodiversity for generations. These ecosystems act as carbon sinks, safeguard pollinators, and provide ecological buffers for surrounding farms, underscoring the climate role of cultural conservation practices.

• Sikkim’s Organic Transition

  By building on long-standing traditions of organic farming, Sikkim became India’s first fully organic state. It demonstrated that scaling cultural practices can become a national model for sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture.

The real question for India’s climate future is not whether these practices are relevant, but how they can be integrated into mainstream agricultural strategies. This requires leadership at multiple levels:

• Policy leadership: Integrating cultural practices into national missions such as the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and aligning them with global frameworks like regenerative agriculture.

• Business leadership: Food companies and agri-businesses must invest in millet-based value chains, regenerative supply chains, and biodiversity credits.

• Financial leadership: Climate finance must flow into blended models where traditional practices are scaled with digital technologies and linked to carbon and nature markets.

• Community leadership: Farmers must be recognised as custodians of climate wisdom, not just beneficiaries of schemes.

The revival of climate-friendly cultural practices is not about romanticising the past—it is about future-proofing agriculture. These practices embody systems thinking: diversity, interdependence, and resilience. They provide the building blocks for food systems that are not only low-carbon but also equitable and culturally grounded.

For India, embracing this heritage is a strategic advantage. It allows us to lead globally on climate-smart agriculture while ensuring local livelihoods and nutrition security. In the web of life, agriculture is a central strand—and it is time to strengthen it by weaving tradition with innovation.