When we talk about nutrients for plant growth, most of us harken back to elementary school science class, where we learned that the elements essential to healthy plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur.
However, there are significantly more micronutrients that are required in trace amounts for healthy crops.
These nutrients regulate the key physiological activities in crops, and a shortage of one or more nutrients can result in decreased crop yields.
In 2013, China was the major contributor to the market because of strong agricultural production in the country, closely followed by India. Economic development in these emerging countries has led to an increase in disposable income and a consequent increase in the demand for food.
Lifestyle changes in the emerging middle class and subsequent demand for quality food have increased pressure on farmers to enhance the quality of their agricultural production, which has led to a CAGR of 7.94 percent from 2014-2018 in the Agricultural Micronutrients Market in the APAC Region.
However, intensive agricultural practices and increased use of macronutrient-based fertilizers has led to a major deficiency in micronutrients in the soil across countries in this area.
Lack of Education and Awareness of Micronutrients among Farmers Becoming a Big Issue
Awareness among farmers about the use of micronutrients is low, which has been a big challenge to market growth in this area, and has resulted in nutrient depletion and severe land degradation in areas across the APAC region.
“Farmers face concerns at every stage of their process, from preparing soil for planting to post-harvest storage. To enhance crop yield, an understanding of the procedure for correct and safe application of micronutrients is required,” say senior TechNavio analysts.
“A lack of such knowledge coupled with difficulty identifying issues at hand has led to a loss of crops.”
This lack of awareness is exacerbated by the fact that micronutrient deficiency can actually be quite difficult to spot in a crop, as these deficiencies do not occur in a uniform manner.
According to an article from AG Professional, “a micronutrient deficiency will not occur over a whole field, but will be present in irregularly shaped areas within a field. Patches are often severely affected, and these graduate into moderately affected areas, and finally transition into areas that do not exhibit or have any micronutrient deficiency.”
This can be challenging for farmers looking to treat micronutrient deficiencies in their crops, as it means that just because there are areas of deficiency in a crop, it doesn’t necessarily mean the whole field requires treatment.
In an effort to find a solution to the problem, several market vendors such as Zuari have introduced field training programs for farmers to facilitate scientist-farmer interactions. These training programs aim to educate farmers and encourage them to use micronutrients for their crops, while providing the added benefit of enhancing sales and customer relationships.
