ICL partners with India's BioPrime! Unique strain resources unlock the phosphorus and zinc utilization challenge

During the partnership, both parties will initially focus on products that can improve nutrient use efficiency. Leveraging ICL's expertise in crop nutrition and plant health management, the first batch of solutions will target the efficiency of phosphorus and zinc—two nutrients that Indian farmers are most deficient in and have the highest costs for. India consumes nearly 12% of the world's phosphates, yet remains heavily dependent on imports, with 85% of the applied phosphorus being fixed or leached due to soil conditions. Additionally, 48% of Indian soils are deficient in zinc, a proportion expected to rise to 63% as soil fertility declines, particularly in southern regions. A unique problem in India is that most phosphorus is fixed by iron and aluminum, unlike in other regions where it typically binds with calcium, which is a simpler compound. Currently, most solutions fail to effectively release usable phosphorus, leading to reduced phosphorus use efficiency. According to ...