Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Overview

The global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% during the forecast period 2022-2027. Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, are prokaryotic algae. Blue-green algae are the only prokaryotes that can perform photosynthesis. Blue-green algae can adapt to various soil types and environments. These microorganisms play a major role in agricultural fields as nitrogen fixers. Due to this ability, they are used as nitrogen biofertilizers. They are also useful for soil treatment. They restore the soil’s natural nutrient cycle and build soil organic matter. The increasing preference towards the use of biofertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers are a major driver for the growth of the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market.

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in severe economic repercussions. The agriculture sector felt the heat due to supply chain issues, pricing issues, and market disruptions. Lockdowns impacted the restaurant, hospitality, and transportation sectors, causing the demand for fresh produce, sugar, and other raw and manufactured agricultural products to shrink. The WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic in March, which is close to springtime during which fruits and vegetables are harvested. Fruits and vegetables are usually handpicked. The number of migrant farmworkers reported positive for COVID-19 rose steadily leading to a shortage of labor. Farms and orchards in Europe employ thousands of seasonal workers from all over the region to help. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, fewer seasonal workers were able to travel to Europe due to travel restrictions. This translated into reduced supply and higher prices of fruits and vegetables at the grocery stores. On account of the closing of restaurants and schools and COVID-19 outbreaks at processing facilities, the food supply chain faced major challenges. This also impacted the market for blue-green algae biofertilizers.

Report Coverage

The report: “Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Report – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the blue-green algae bio-fertilizers industry.

Key Takeaways

• Asia-Pacific dominates the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market on account of the agrarian economy in the region. According to Invest India, India’s agriculture technology to attain US$24.1 billion by 2025.
• Blue-green algae are also known as cyanobacteria and have great potential as nitrogenous biofertilizers.
• Blue-green algae have the ability of photosynthesis as well as biological nitrogen fixation. This makes them an effective and economical alternative to chemical fertilizers.
• The major opportunity for this market is increasing awareness regarding the economic benefits of using blue-green algae biofertilizers.

 Figure: Asia-Pacific Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Revenue, 2021-2027 (US$ Billion)

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Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Segment Analysis – By Type

The Anabaena segment held the largest share in the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market in 2021. Blue-green algae are capable of fixing the atmospheric nitrogen and converting it into an available form of ammonium required for plant growth. Dominant nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae are Anabaena, Nostoc, Aulosira, Calothrix, Plectonema, Tolypothrix, etc. Blue-green algae add growth-promoting substances including vitamin B12, improve the soil’s aeration and water holding capacity and add to the biomass once their life cycle ends. Azolla is an aquatic fern found in small and shallow water bodies and in rice fields. It has a symbiotic relationship with Anabaena and can help rice and other crops through dual cropping or green manuring of soil. Anabaena-Azolla contributes nitrogen up to 60 kg/ha/season and also enriches soils with organic matter. According to the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) Medium-Term Fertilizer Outlook 2021-2025, global nitrogen fertilizer demand appears to be set to increase in 2022. Nitrogen experienced a 4.1% increase in demand to 110 MMT in 2020-21. Due to the rising prices of natural gas, prices of nitrogen fertilizers also increase. Using cyanobacteria as nitrogenous biofertilizers can help reduce the amount spent on nitrogen fertilizers.

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Segment Analysis – By Crop Type

The grains and cereals segment held the largest share in the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market in 2021 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period. Nitrogen is the most limiting element in almost all soils. Thus, the proper application of nitrogen fertilizers is vital to improve crop growth and grain yields. The United Nations estimates that the world population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030, and by 2050 the population will be 9.7 billion. To cultivate crops on such a large scale, cyanobacteria emerge as an economically viable biofertilizer. Blue-green algae are one of the main components of the nitrogen-fixing biomass in agricultural fields. They provide a potential source of nitrogen at no cost. Due to the important characteristic of nitrogen fixation, cyanobacteria contribute to enhancing productivity in a variety of agricultural and ecological situations. Cereals rank among the most widespread crops worldwide and are the major source of energy in the human diet. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), rice, wheat, and corn together account for over 90% of the world’s cereal production. Several studies have shown that the grain yield in rice can be improved by using nitrogen fertilizers. According to the US Geological Survey, large corn plantations maintain the continued demand for nitrogen fertilizers in the US. According to the US Department of Agriculture, US corn growers planted 37.4 million hectares of corn in crop-year 2021, 3% more than the area planted in crop-year 2020. As cereals and grains are a major carbohydrate source and form a bulk of the food consumed, increasing the grain yield can help ensure food security. Therefore, the grains and cereals segment is expected to dominate the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market during the forecast period.

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

The Asia-Pacific region held the largest share in the global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers market in 2021 up to 39% owing to the high agricultural activities in the region. Asia is predominantly an agrarian society, where a majority of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Rice is a staple food in Asia. According to FAO, China is the largest producer of various crops in the world, including rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables. In India, agriculture is the backbone of the economy. India is the leading producer of millets, pulses, and spices, among others, and the second-largest producer of rice in the world. Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Bangladesh are also important rice-growing regions. Rice fields are generally flooded with water. Azolla, a floating fern, and its symbiont, the blue-green alga, Anabaena, are widely found in the rice fields in Asia. Azolla-Anabaena forms a green mat over water and fixes the atmospheric nitrogen which benefits the rice crop. According to the Philippine Rice Research Institute, the Azolla-Anabaena association can fix about 1.2kg N/ha daily or about 864kg N/ha annually, which is equivalent to about 34 bags of urea. The APAC region has the highest rate of population growth which means there is a high need for increasing food production. The demand for various agrochemicals is escalating in the region. Data from the FAO is evident of this fact. Asia represented 56% of the world’s total agricultural use of inorganic fertilizers in 2019. Fertilizer use per cropland area in 2019 was the highest in Asia, at 180 kg/ha. Therefore, this region is expected to continue to dominate the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market during the forecast period.

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market– Drivers

Increasing Preference towards Biofertilizers

Fertilizers provide the major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) that plants need. Unless the nutrients are replenished, the soil’s productive capacity declines with every harvest. The over usage of chemical fertilizers has degraded the soil quality and also poses environmental problems are they runoff in the water causing eutrophication and other issues. On account of these problems, awareness about biofertilizers has increased. Biofertilizers are substances that contain microorganisms that help in promoting the healthy growth of plants by increasing the supply and availability of essential nutrients to the plants. Certain species of fungi, algae, and bacteria are used as biofertilizers. Fungal biofertilizers withdraw minerals from the organic matter for the plants whereas cyanobacteria or blue-green algae have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and provide an important nutrient to the plant. The growing popularity of organic farming also promotes the use of biofertilizers. Organic farming is a production system that avoids the use of chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, and growth regulators. According to Eurostat, organic farming covered around 14.7 million hectares of agricultural land in the EU in 2020 compared to 13.8 million hectares in 2019. Organic farming corresponds to 9.1% of the total utilized agricultural area of the EU. The organic farming system relies on eco-friendly methods such as crop rotations, animal manures, green manures, farm organic wastes, biofertilizers, biopesticides, and other methods of biological origin for soil treatment. Therefore, the increasing preference towards biofertilizers over chemical fertilizers acts as a driver for the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market.

Growing Interest in Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. SDG2 of the UN aims for zero hunger. One of the key targets of this goal is to achieve food security through sustainability in agriculture. According to this, by 2030 the UN aims to ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, to help maintain ecosystems and thereby improve land and soil quality. Cyanobacteria are the most abundant group of organisms on the earth. They are prokaryotic algae with the ability to carry out photosynthesis. They have the potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen, which makes them useful as a biofertilizer. Apart from controlling the nitrogen deficiency in plants, they also improve the aeration of the soil and the water holding capacity. These microorganisms also excrete phytohormones such as auxin and gibberellins, vitamins, and amino acids, which promote healthy plant growth. The indiscriminate use of nitrogenous chemical fertilizers in agriculture is a global concern. Sustainability considerations mandate that alternatives to nitrogen fertilizers must be urgently sought. Biological nitrogen fixation is an economically attractive method of providing plants with this essential nutrient as also helps in soil treatment. Efficient applications of cyanobacteria have been reported in agricultural practices to fix approximately 10–30 kg/ha of nitrogen. Therefore, the growing interest in sustainable agriculture drives the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market.

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Market– Challenges

Low Awareness Regarding the Use of Algal Biofertilizers

Fertilizers are beneficial for plant growth and also promote a high yield of the crop as they supply the three essential nutrients, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. According to the FAO, the total agricultural use of inorganic fertilizers was 189 million tons in 2019, of which nitrogen was the highest at 56% or 108 million tons. Nitrogen is the dominant nutrient and the use of nitrogenous fertilizers accounts for more than half of the world’s fertilizers. However, the use of chemical fertilizers affects soil quality and also poses environmental problems. The use of biofertilizers helps in maintaining soil quality and provides a low-cost approach to managing crop yield along with protecting the environment. Using blue-green algae as biofertilizers provide numerous benefits such as they provide nitrogen, release plant growth promoting hormones, and improve the quality of the soil. In addition, studies reported that cyanobacteria can limit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and reduce the incidence of diseases in crop plants. However, a lack of awareness is hindering the application of algal biofertilizers in agriculture. This may prove to be a challenge for the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market.

Global Blue-Green Algae Bio-Fertilizers Industry Outlook

Product launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market. Global blue-green algae bio-fertilizers market top 10 companies are:

1. Algenol
2. AlGIX LLC
3. Cyamonia Bio
4. Algaenergy S.A.
5.  AlgEnerg Pvt Ltd
6. ALGAE Biotecnologia
7. Aurora Algae, Inc.
8. Global Algae
9. Pond Technologies Holdings Inc.
10. Beijing Gingko Group

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