Transforms fallow land to thriving food forests

MFF helps marginal farming families transform 0.5–2 acres of underutilised and fallow farmland into thriving food-producing ecosystems. Each acre integrates 100–150 trees across diverse fruit and income-generating species, along with nutrition patches, farm ponds, drip irrigation, and intercrops. Together, these elements improve food security, strengthen nutrition, and build more resilient livelihoods

Each MFF is designed around locally suited tree species that are adapted to the slope of the land and the region’s climate, soils. These trees develop deep root systems that improve water infiltration, reduce runoff and erosion, recharge groundwater, and strengthen the long-term health and resilience of the landscape

MFF is designed so farmers don’t have to wait years for returns. By combining intercrops, nutrition patches, and trees with different gestation periods, the model generates income from the first year while building long-term livelihood stability

Water presence at an MFF Site is secured by the pre-existing solutions in a circle, for example, water sources can be supported by the IIT-IIT RWB and springshed solutions adopted previously in a region

Regenerating Land for Resilient Futures

India has over 64 million acres of fallow land, which is nearly 8% of cultivable area, often left unproductive due to seasonal constraints or degradation. This provides a major opportunity for regeneration through MFF.

At maturity, MFF can generate ~₹1 lakh per acre per year. Scaled across ~64 million acres, this translates into a potential annual farmer income opportunity of ~₹64 trillion (₹64 lakh crore), equivalent to ~ 20% of the national annual GDP

Beyond regenerating fallow land, MFF helps regenerate landscapes. As MFF Units scale across a Circle, they create cooler microclimates, improve groundwater recharge, reduce erosion, and sequester carbon – building long-term resilience to climate extremes for farming communities.

Rooted in Women Agency

MFF strengthens women’s agency by enabling them to become recognised decision-makers in agriculture, with greater voice, leadership, and influence over their family’s land and livelihoods. In some implementation models, this is reinforced through Power of Attorney agreements that formally recognise women’s authority in land and farming decisions

Experience shows that MFF adoption typically includes ~1 acre managed by a woman farmer. Applied to India’s ~64 million acres of fallow land, this suggests the potential to regenerate ~30 million acres with women farmers—positively impacting ~30 million women and their families while advancing women’s agency alongside ecological and economic regeneration

MFF enables women’s collective agency by helping them access government schemes such as UMED, Krishi Sakhi, and Pockra. MFF brings women together into collectives, enabling them to adopt best practices, aggregate produce, and access markets collectively. Through these platforms, women strengthen their incomes, build shared leadership, and become powerful agents of change across livelihoods, nutrition, financial resilience, and the stewardship of land and water resources

Delivered via a 5-stage codified process

Baseline / Opportunity: A tech-enabled assessment is the starting point to focus efforts on stress areas by mapping fallow land across GPs within a Circle and categorising the opportunity into very high, high, and medium potential where MFF can be adopted


Scope of Engagement: GP clusters are finalised using a denominator–cum–mosaic approach. The denominator builds on engaged and confirmed GPs where community readiness is already in place, while the mosaic expands into new GPs based on Circle targets. Together, this creates a scope that is both implementation-ready and aligned with scale

Confirm Community: Community ownership is confirmed through a tech-enabled on-ground community engagement that validates MFF potential and gauges community interest


Deliver Operations: MFF operations are delivered through three stages – pre-ops, ops, and post-ops – across each phase of MFF. Pre-ops sets up all documentation, approvals, and processes required to initiate work; ops ensures efficient and cost-effective execution on the ground; and post-ops audits and validates the work completed.

The four phases of MFF are:
A) Prepping of land
B) Planting of saplings
C) Planting of intercrops and nutrition patches
D) Harvesting

Outcomes are measured using models that assess impact on livelihoods and carbon, with similar frameworks being developed to capture other areas such as water, food security and nutrition, soil health, and biodiversity, as well as women’s agency.

Impact Already Taking Root

Raah Foundation leads the Micro Food Forest solution, empowering women and farmer communities to drive ecological restoration and climate-resilient livelihoods across the Western Ghats


In the adjacent Vaitarna Circle (Palghar), Raah has enabled MFF adoption across 3,000+ acres, demonstrating regeneration at scale

As these MFFs mature, they are poised to generate ₹30 crore in additional net income for nearly 3,000 farmers


Under the CAP1 project, MFF will expand across four Circles to deliver 12,000+ Resilience Units over the next five years, with 25% of this target already achieved by 2026

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