| |December 20219microbes also exhibit plant growth promoting properties. These products are registered at the Fertilizer Control Order [FCO] and can be used for seed dressing, soil broadcasting and foliar sprays. Next Gen bio-fertilizers are available as liquid bio-inoculants or in conventional carrier based form.World-wide market for bio-fertilizer is around $1.68 billion dollars which is less than 155 billion worldwide chemical fertilizer market. The CAGR of bio-fertilizers is around 13 percent as against chemical fertilizers which is just around 3.8 percent. Recent developments in genomics, fermentation and formulation technology is proving boost to develop novel formulations of bio-fertilizers. The driver for the bio-fertilizer markets are food safety and improving the efficiency of chemical fertilizers which stands at less than 30 percent in conventional agriculture.The rest 70 percent are either washed away causing algal blooms in rivers or fixed in unusable form in soils like phosphates. The demand of bio-fertilizers is also fuelled by increase in area of organic farming - a $4 billion market in India for organic food which is growing at the rate of 23 percent CAGR. Bio-fertilizers are certified for organic farming and can improve the yields of organic as well as conventional farming systems.Presently there are numerous small companies engaged in the production of bio-fertilizers. The main ingredient for their mass scale implementation is shelf- stability which determines their success on field. Government is taking special steps to provide extension support for creating awareness amongst farmers. However, the success will be more pronounced when it modifies the seed act by allowing various seed companies to factory seed microbes on seed as well as by allowing dry-coating on chemical fertilizers. Factory seeding of bio-fertilizers can be a boon for the huge class of small and marginal farmers growing rice, wheat, soybean, cotton etc. This will be an easy source of nutrient for them and applying microbes at the seed stage is, `well begun is half done'.
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