Regenerative agriculture is often framed as a choice that farmers can make in their spare time. However, the adoption of these practices is becoming inevitable as sustainability moves from aspiration to operational baseline, says Zain Mayer, head of agricultural finance at Nedbank corporate and investment banking.
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Sustainable and regenerative agriculture reflect very different standards of land management. Sustainable agriculture allows the farmer to remain on the land, while regenerative farming requires intensive management that leaves the soil in much better condition.
The adoption process remains uneven across Africa, shaped less by ideology than by economics, land ownership, and access to finance.
These structural realities become visible when comparing agricultural systems across the continent. In South Africa, approximately 30,000 commercial farmers operate within a system where secure land title allows land to be used as collateral, opening up access to production finance.
North of the Limpopo River, this model is much less common, and many farmers farm small plots without ownership and achieve very low yields because access to finance, mechanization and technology remains constrained.
Even where finance is available, the transition to regenerative farming rarely happens overnight. This is one in which reducing fertilizer use, restoring soil biology and adopting minimal tillage practices can initially offset yield losses. For farmers operating on thin margins, a two to three-year decline in production threatens cash flow and loan repayments.
Adoption remains unequal
However, over time, the economics begin to change, as healthy soils retain moisture more effectively, fertilizer use is reduced, and biological pest control replaces chemical inputs. The real benefit is sustainability, not chasing the highest possible yield.
This shift challenges traditional agricultural credit models that prioritize immediate production over flexibility. Farmers who use fewer inputs face less volatility in costs, while the strong moisture-retaining soils allow planting even when neighboring fields remain fallow.
Market forces are also accelerating change, as export markets increasingly require evidence of environmental performance. South Africa's citrus industry experienced this pressure years ago when shipments to Europe were rejected due to pest concerns, and now similar expectations are emerging in macadamias, table grapes and wine. Sustainability marketing is shifting from labels to market access and premium pricing.
overcoming obstacles
Even as these market pressures increase, adoption remains hampered by cultural barriers in a region where farming knowledge is passed down from generation to generation and refined practices have been in place for decades. Convincing a fourth-generation farmer to abandon deep ripping or heavy fertilizer use requires visible results, not theoretical reassurance, and peer influence often proves more persuasive than policy.
In much of Africa, the barriers are more fundamental, as smallholder farmers often have to rely on government-supplied seeds and fertilizer that arrive late or are poorly suited to local conditions.
One practical response is the hub-and-spoke model, where a commercial anchor such as a mill, crushing facility, or large farm supplies quality seed, appropriate fertilizer, mechanization, technical support, and guaranteed offtake to nearby farmers. Under such systems, farmers who previously had to struggle to harvest 1 tonne of maize per hectare can achieve significantly higher yields.
Enhancing sustainability through finance, investment
Realizing these benefits at scale requires finance that supports the transition rather than penalizing it, particularly where early-stage yield reductions create carry-over debt that blended finance structures can absorb through concessional funding and subordinated capital.
Encouragingly, investor appetite for sustainable agriculture is already evident. Nedbank's R2 billion sustainability bond, which included climate-smart agriculture as a use of the proceeds, was oversubscribed by a factor of two, showing that capital is available when a credible framework is in place.
Maintaining that credibility will depend on independent monitoring of soil carbon, water use and input reductions so that regenerative agriculture remains a measurable practice rather than a label.
Africa is often described as the world's future food basket, but that future depends not only on production, but also on how that production is produced. Gulf countries are investing heavily in African agriculture to ensure food supply, highlighting the strategic importance of the continent, yet without sustainable practices, productivity gains may prove short-lived as soils become depleted and yields decline.
Change will take time, because farmers adopt innovations only when the economics work, the market demands them and the land responds. Regenerative agriculture is moving in that direction, driven by the realities of markets, economics and climate.
Ultimately, farmers will adopt regenerative practices once the numbers make sense.
visit business.nedbank.co.za.