Bioprime Agrisolutions leverages their advanced biotechnology and research in biologicals to support farmers struggling with crop loss, temperature fluctuations and diseases. The company was mentioned amongst the global BioAg 10 most innovative Startups in Rio de Janeiro this year.
Dr Renuka Diwan Co-founder & CEO, BioPrime Agrisolutions, in an exclusive interview with Rahul Koul, Chief Editor, BioVoice News, shares insights on her company’s unique products, use of microbes in sustainable farming and crucial role of agriculture biotechnology.
How are the BioPrime Agrisolutions’ products helping improve sustainability in farming practices? Any specific examples?
Promoting biological solutions involve leveraging nature’s apparatus to improve crop production while minimizing the environmental impacts. At BioPrime, we have developed deep technological platforms to prioritize sustainable practices over synthetic inputs. Through our inhouse patented platforms like SNIPR & Bionexus, we have brought the boons of beneficial organisms extracted from the plants to provide climate resilience, manage pests & diseases & improve soil fertility. With our focus on bringing technology to the ground, we have helped farmers increase the production of grade A fruits, improve the lustre of the crop, achieve a greater number of reproductive flowers & higher conversion from flowers to fruits. All this has helped farmers grow more with an assurance against the ill-impacts of climate change.
What are the company’s key agri-biotech products and how do they benefit farmers?
SNIPR is Bioprime’s proprietary high throughput screening platform that aids in the discovery and development of biomolecules. This helps us develop formulations with defined components, measure and quantify their synergist effect and identify their mechanism of action on plants. This in turn will lead to deeper understanding of products on-field application and devise correct strategy for time, dose and frequency of application. Some of our selective product range based on SNIPR are Fortisea, Admiron & Verdant. These are biostimulants based on seaweed & botanical extract aimed at different crop stage. Our products have distinct mode of action, active ingredients & are processed through cold extraction process ensuring quality & consistency to the farmers.
Our products benefit farmers in a holistic way, offering protection to plants in temperature fluctuation & water stress. These help in continuous food production even in adverse conditions; effective across all crop stages, leaves lasting effect on the crop; leaves no residue on plants, fruits or soil. Environmentally safe; delivers superior fruit quality by modulating the sugar content; and improves shelf life & maximizes marketable production.
Can you elaborate on the recently launched plant associated microbes library? How significant will it be in the longer run?
At BioPrime we understand the interconnectedness of a thriving agricultural ecosystem & its importance for the farming community to grow more while conserving the health of the soil & the crops. With the aim of improving farmer yields & providing resilience to the crops against the climate change using the wisdom of nature, we have initiated our ambitious project called Bionexus. We have built India’s largest functional microbiome library primarily focusing on plant trait modifications with over 17000 microbes. These have been collected from 13 agroclimatic zones out of 15 in India. Plant microbiome dictates the survival and fit of crops especially in stressed conditions, conferring resistance against biotic and abiotic factors.
The wealth of microbes affects all aspects of the plant fitness and confer the plant with traits like drought tolerance, disease resistance, enhanced yields to name a few. With our Bionexus microbe discoveries, we have built solutions which are environmentally friendly and sustainable. Today, a large number of farmers are reaping benefits from the same. We aim to safeguard the agricultural biodiversity to contribute towards the stability of ecosystem for thriving agricultural produce, fertile soil & higher crop productivity.
“We have built India’s largest functional microbiome library primarily focusing on plant trait modifications with over 17000 microbes.”
What are some upcoming innovations or products that BioPrime is working on?
We constantly gather the voice of customers to solve an existing gap or to introduce a new solution. Our upcoming innovations are largely going to be based on fertilizer additives. Globally, fertilizer additives are being explored as an effective segment, which can enhance the performance of popular NPK grade fertilizers in various forms. We are developing additives of seaweed, nutrient use efficiency biomolecules 7 yield boosting biomolecules to be coated with all major fertilizer grades. This can significantly boost the efficiency of the regular fertilizers by increasing the nutrient uptake & mitigating the risk of nutrient wastage.
Company’s financial performance during FY 2023-24 and your expectations from FY 2024-25?
We have consistently grown at 50% levels on YOY basis making deeper inroads with our products. Our B2B customer base has been growing consistently along with our B2C clusters.
What are your long-term goals, both in terms of product development and market impact?
We will continue to build solutions around our core of leveraging the capabilities of microbes to solve some of the unmet needs in agricultural, feed & industrial segments. As the climate change continues to be unpredictable; we will continue to fine tune our existing and bring newer solutions to counter its impact on the agricultural yields. In this line, we will be extending our biostimulants range. Another area, where we see a gap is in the bio control segment. Specifically in the areas of bio fungicides & nematicides. Though this market has a lot of players, the concern around its quality & consistency is still a hurdle to be crossed. This is where we will pitch our BioNexus strength of microbes to find better and stable solutions. We are also looking at expanding our offerings into aqua feed and industrial segments, where we can deploy our library strength to come up with winning products.
How do you envision the role of biotechnology evolving in agriculture over the next decade?
The role of biotechnology is likely to get more sophisticated by finding solutions impacting the daily life of human kind. We envision a lot of innovation in the field of agriculture, making it climate proof. This has to be on the priority of everyone as the dangers of yield & nutritional loss will be acute for a growing population. The sustainable solutions of biologicals will find a space along with the chemical agri-inputs as a mass practice amongst the farmers. This is likely to happen as the productivity load on land will need to be balanced along with the health of the soil & the overall natural ecosystem. Ultimately, the rising awareness on sustainable production & consumption along with the growing trend of organic farming needs one central theme, that is the role of biotechnology.
*This interview was first published in the September 2024 edition of BioVoice eMagazine.