‘Microbials are gaining market share due to evolving customer tastes for quality food’

Microbials can replace about 30 per cent of all forms of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides currently used in agriculture within the next decade, said Sandeepa Kanitkar, Founder Chairperson and MD, Kan Biosys.

Speaking to BusinessLine, Kanitkar said, “ The demand for bio-nutrition is currently around 1.68B dollars with a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13 per cent, with overall chemical fertilisers of around 155B dollars rising at just 3.8 per cent CAGR. Microbials are gaining market share due to evolving customer tastes for quality food, water and air, all of which have their origins in agriculture.”

Kan Biosys has received 1 million dollars in Indian currency from Organic Biosystems in 2017 as funding. Right now comapny’s turnover is ₹20 crore plus with a forecast in the next 3 years to grow at 40 to 60 % YOY.

“Microbial inputs are bacteria that are useful in agriculture for the mobilisation of nutrients, pest management and soil health management. Right now, we see that no matter how much a farmer invests, the yields are declining or stagnating in spite of increasing the inputs thereby reducing profits or income of the farmer. This is where we’re moving in,” she said.

Kan Biosys helps farmers increase the nutrient use efficiency of fertilisers or chemicals and also helps them improve the soil health by carbon sequestration.

Company’s future business plans are to bring out new formulations of microbes for all three aspects of inputs.

The company is working closely with farmers on carbon sequestration which aims at improving the soil health. A project of in Situ rice straw incorporation has been launched and validated for 3 years on over 40,000 acres. Technology Development Board has given soft loan for the project. All company products have been validated by many agricultural universities in India and abroad. Right now Kan Biosys is working with around 3000 plus dealers across 7 states through network agents. Products are being tested in 5 countries including USA.