Present Scenario: Status of the Biofertilizer Industry in India

Abstract

Agriculture today is facing the challenge of increasing productivity from decreasing arable land to feed the growing population. It must improvise and innovate to confront additional threats of global warming and climate change, deteriorating soil health, loss of biodiversity, and incidence of crop disease resistance. The use of beneficial microbes identified from soil and plant microbiome can potentially mitigate these challenges. Biofertilizer products having viable cells of beneficial bacteria or spore of a mold can be applied to soil, seeds, or roots. They colonize the rhizospheric soil and the rhizoplane or become endophytic. They extend the benefits of nutrient acquisition, plant growth promotion, and boosting plant resistance against abiotic and biotic stresses. The biofertilizer market in India is occupied by both the public sector and private sector units. The Indian biofertilizer market is worth $110.07 million in 2022 and is expected to grow to $243.61 million by 2029, exhibiting a growth of 12.02%. This surge is triggered by the rising costs of chemical fertilizers and increased awareness about detrimental environmental impact of these chemical fertilizers. Though a gainful vocation, issues such as the storage, transportation and marketing of biofertilizer, seasonal nature of the product, lack of regulatory and certification control, and few biofertilizer testing laboratories pose adversity. The government of India has set up a task force to oversee biofertilizer promotion work. It has set up NCOF and six regional centers, the main aim of these is to increase farmer awareness through training and demonstration of biofertilizer use. This chapter will outline the Government of India’s policy initiatives, discuss public and private sector contribution to biofertilizer production in India, and review its entrepreneurship hurdles.