Liquid Fertilizer

Consumers now days, are becoming highly concerned about food safety issues, the rising residue levels in food, and environmental issues, due to the rising concerns about their health. This rise in awareness has induced them to prefer chemical-free food products. With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, people have become more conscious about healthy organic food products, which has driven the market growth of biological inputs, such as bio fertilizers.

Solid form of Bio fertilizer products have a limited shelf-life and run a high risk of contamination, whereas, the usage of liquid bio fertilizers remains substantially high, globally. This is due to its higher shelf life as compared to carrier-based bio fertilizers. Liquid bio fertilizers have a life expectancy of 2 to 3 years, making it more convenient and affordable for farmers. Moreover, liquid fertilizers have better tolerance limits for adverse conditions. The quality control protocols for liquid bio fertilizers are also easy and expeditious compared to carrier-based bio fertilizers. Thus, in terms of value, the liquid bio fertilizers segment is estimated to dominate the global market in 2021. Liquid Bio-fertilizers have a distinct advantage in terms of cost saving on chemical fertilizers in addition to yield advantage. Chemical fertilizers otherwise may have negative effects on soil as well as human health, change the soil chemistry and these soils no longer support plant growth in the long run.

The Solid bio-fertilizers were carrier based where lignite is usually added as a carrier material. Lignite is hazardous to the production workers. Also, the shelf life of carrier based bio-fertilizers is only 6 months and is difficult to transport. Whereas, the Liquid Based Fertilizer on the other hand have a shelf life of minimum one year, with no health hazards to production workers and are easy to transport. Additionally, they can be used in drip irrigation and as a component of organic farming.

The bio-fertilizers market is estimated to be valued at USD 2.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 3.9 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 11.6% during the forecast period. The market is driven primarily by the increasing organic farmland as well as the rising acceptance of bio-fertilizers among farmers.

The marketing strategy adopted by other players in the field is mainly through dealer network. This product is aggressively marketed in the state of Punjab and Haryana by other producers and delivered to the farmers in bulk of 3000 to 5000 litres tanks which are driven by tractors and can be applied directly on the fields as and when required. Liquid fertilizer sales vary depending on its nutritional value (N/K ratio)and the type of packaging involved. The project proposes to improve the N/K ration by addition of inoculum and attractive packaging and achieve the targeted sale price by marketing thorough Dealer network as well as selling direct to farmers in Bulk through 3000 to 5000 liter containers.

The quantity being produced from this project is less than 2.5% of the existing Indian Market size and 0.20% of the global market size. Hence sale of this product in Indian market through a strong and widespread Dealer network will achieve the targeted sale volumes. To make the marketing effort more aggressive, it is proposed to offer attractive discount to the traders by keeping the sale price at application level competitive and thus achieve the budgeted sale price to Dealers.