Agroforestry and conservation agriculture both mimic natural ecosystems and can jointly enhance sustainability and soil resilience by augmenting carbon sequestration and soil organic matter (SOM). Despite this complementarity, efforts to integrate these practices into a synergistic system that can improve SOM composition and humification indices remain limited. Here, we assessed the effects of agroforestry systems and croplands (in upland and lowland ecologies) on SOM quality in the degraded semi-arid land in Central India at 0-20 and 20-40 cm soil depths. Systems included a long-term teak (Tectona grandis)-based agroforestry (AF (T)) and agroforestry integrating conservation agriculture with sorghum-chickpea (CAF (S-C)) or maize-linseed (CAF (M-L)) rotations. SOM quality was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy that focused on the humification indices of fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA). Results revealed dissimilarities in the abundance of carbon (C)- and oxygen (O)-functional groups between humic and fulvic acids . For example, conservation agroforestry systems exhibited broader spectral signatures and a greater presence of -COOH groups, hydrogen bonding (-OH), -OH deformation, and C-O stretching vibrations of polysaccharides (1037-1162 cm(-1)) and phenolics (3700-3620 cm(-1)) as well as an increase in lignin-origin phenolic compounds (1370 cm(-1)), indicating more advanced SOM decomposition and humification than conventional agroforestry and croplands. Humification indices followed the trend: conservation agroforestry > agroforestry > cropland. Variations between CAF (S-C) and CAF (M-L) further suggest that crop choice modulates these effects. Our findings demonstrate that transitioning cropland to agroforestry enhances soil humification, and that combining agroforestry with conservation agriculture can accelerate these improvements even over short timescales.