Fertigation & chemigation market size is forecast to reach $57 billion by 2025, after growing at a CAGR of 6.4% during 2020-2025, owing to the vital role of fertigation & chemigation in ensuring water-soluble products delivery safely, accurately and evenly over broad areas. The demand for fertigation & chemigation is also rising as they enable high uniformity of distribution throughout the crop plant systems. Fertigation & chemigation is a more effective way of increasing the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), productivity, and quality of the crop, thus preventing leaching loss of the nutrients. The major factor driving the fertigation & chemigation market growth is its extensive usage in minimizing chemical leaching of crops, which is anticipated to substantially drive the fertigation & chemigation market during the forecast period.
Key Takeaways
- Europe dominates the fertigation & chemigation market, owing to the various agricultural initiatives taken by the European governments such as Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Young Farmers.
- A major advantage of chemigation is that it can be done through drip or trickle and it is cost-effective as it does not require a vehicle to traverse and apply chemicals around the field. It saves the environment from different hazards as well as prevents contamination of the groundwater.
- Special fertilizers like mono ammonium phosphate, Poly feed, Multi K, Potassium sulfate are highly suitable for fertigation, as they are highly soluble in water, which is anticipated to propel the fertigation & chemigation market during the forecast period.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the countries have gone under lockdown, due to which operations of various industries such as irrigation has been negatively affected, which is hampering the fertigation & chemigation market growth.
By Crop Type – Segment Analysis
The food crop held the largest share in the fertigation & chemigation market in 2019, owing to the increasing demand for food crops such as wheat, rice, pulses, and others. There is an increasing demand for food crops as they are a staple food in various regions especially in Asian countries, holding both economic and cultural importance. The global use of rice for livestock feed has steadily increased over the past several decades. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, the global use of rice for feed-in 2013 was 33.6 million mt and that feed use has been growing by 0.5 million mt per year, an average growth rate of 1.7 percent. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), rice consumption in 2019-20 was approximately 102 million tonnes, an increase of 3%, and the rice consumption is expected to increase further in 2020-21 to 108 million tonnes with the government pushing more subsidized rice. Thus, with the increasing food crop consumption, the demand for fertigation & chemigation will also increase, which is anticipated to drive the fertigation & chemigation market in the food crop sector during the forecast period.
By Agri Inputs – Segment Analysis
The fertilizer held the largest share in the fertigation & chemigation market in 2019, owing to the increasing usage of fertilizers as agri inputs in the fertigation & chemical processes. Often a small amount of fertilizer is spread through drip tubes directly to the root zone using the fertigation process as fertigation improves the fertilizer efficiency. The usage of fertigation & chemigation produces better yields and quality of crops even with 20 percent to 50 percent less fertilizer. Also, on using the fertigation & chemigation process the leaching of the fertilizers is minimized, reducing the groundwater pollution and environmental hazards. Moreover, if the uniformity of water is high, the efficiency of the application of fertilizers will also be high. These extensive advantages are anticipated to drive the fertilizer based agri inputs fertigation & chemigation market during the forecast period.
By Irrigation System – Segment Analysis
The drip irrigation held the largest share in the fertigation & chemigation market in 2019, owing to superior properties of drip irrigation than sprinkler irrigation. Drip irrigation is more desirable than other irrigation methods for several reasons. Two important advantages are water conservation (drip requires about half as much water over the growing season as sprinkler irrigation), and the potential exists for significantly improving fertilizer management. Drip irrigation is an effective method as it allows water to drip slowly to the roots of the crops through various networks, such as pipes, emitters, and valves. Due to this, the loss of fertilizers and nutrients is reduced to a minimum, and the moisture content in crops can be sustained. More vegetable growers are using plastic-mulched beds and drip irrigation to enhance yields and quality because drip irrigation has proved to be the best irrigation method for vegetables grown on plastic mulch, and it has become an integral part of this production system. Since drip irrigation is the most used irrigation system, the demand for fertigation & chemigation is subsequently increasing in the drip irrigation system.
By Application – Segment Analysis
The agriculture irrigation held the largest share in the fertigation & chemigation market in 2019 and is growing at a CAGR of 6.5%, owing to the increasing adoption of the fertigation & chemigation process in the agriculture irrigation application. Fertigation is the injection of fertilizers, used for soil amendments, water amendments, and other water-soluble products into an irrigation system. The use of fertigation & chemigation as an application for agriculture irrigation has favorable results of equal nutrient and water distribution to crops so that the absorption of nutrients and water is at an optimum level. The greenhouse irrigation sector is also growing at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Fertigation and chemigation are being widely used in the greenhouse irrigation due to its extensive advantages such as increasing the efficiency of how plants absorb many chemicals, decreasing chemical use, increasing the uniformity of chemical application, increasing fertilizer availability, reducing risk to pollinators and other beneficial organisms, and more. Thus, the wide advantages of using fertigation & chemigation are anticipated to boost the demand for fertigation & chemigation in the greenhouse irrigation sector during the forecast period.
By Geography – Segment Analysis
Europe region held the largest share in the fertigation & chemigation market in 2019 up to 30%, owing to the increasing investments in agricultural activities in the region. The governments are spending heavily on initiatives and investments in the field of agriculture as it is one of the most effective ways of promoting agricultural productivity and enhancing environmental sustainability for the increasing population. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the development of the agricultural sector in Europe is strongly influenced by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Agricultural production is also framed by other EU and international policies, some of which are the Nitrates Directive and the Water Framework Directive. Moreover, energy and climate policies such as the 2030 Climate & Energy Framework have also driven the increase in energy crop production over the last decade. Thus, such government initiatives are increasing the agricultural sector which is further increasing the fertigation & chemigation demand. Thus, the increasing demand for fertigation & chemigation for easy production of the crop is anticipated to drive the fertigation & chemigation market in Europe during the forecast period.
Drivers – Fertigation & Chemigation Market
- Increasing Governments Initiatives
Due to the heavy pressure of population in underdeveloped and developing countries and its rapid increase, the demand for food is increasing at a fast rate owing to which the governments are spending heavily on initiatives and investments in the field of agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture took an initiative – “The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)” to ensure food safety and security, and train the next generation of the agricultural workforce. In 2020, the Canadian government invested a total of $560,000 on the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) to develop the Canadian Agri-Food Sustainability Initiative. The total quantum of private agricultural investment in India should increase from Rs. 61,000 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 139,424 crore by 2022-23. United Nations “Zero Hunger Vision by 2030” which aims to end hunger and double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers is likely to increase the demand for fertigation & chemigation. Thus, due to the various initiatives by the government, agricultural production is also increasing in the various regions, which acts as a driver for the fertigation & chemigation market during the forecast period.
Challenges – Fertigation & Chemigation Market
The high initial investments are a major factor restraining the growth of the market. The fertilizer and water-soluble fertilizer systems are considered most suitable for cost-intensive farming such as orchards, nurseries, greenhouses, and vineyards. The initial investment cost for installing fertigation systems for water-soluble fertilizer application is high and is hence less suitable for low-value crops considering that the returns on investments may be low. Also, the nutrient application is one of the important factors in addition to fertilizer dose amongst different agronomic practices, which influence the growth and yield of crops. The nutrient application in fertigation is critical, as overdosage may cause yield losses.
- Covid-19 Impact on The Fertigation & Chemigation Market
The production of vegetables, fruits, wine, and crops requires extensive crop care such as seed treatment, soil management, crop protection, and more for much fertigation & chemigation is extensively used. However, due to the pandemic, the production in these sectors is experiencing difficulties like untimely crop care and pesticide product deliveries, trade and deliveries issues, and more. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic entire world has gone into a lockdown period due to which the restaurants and grocery shops are closed and the demand for fresh produce and fisheries products has diminished, affecting producers and suppliers. Certain guidelines have been issued by the agricultural bodies such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), for the farmers during the lockdown period to follow certain steps during harvesting and threshing of various crops as well as storage and marketing of the farm produce. All these factors are limiting the fertigation & chemigation market.
Market Landscape
Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the fertigation & chemigation market. In 2019, the market of fertigation & chemigation has been consolidated by the top five players accounting for xx% of the share. Major players in the fertigation & chemigation market are The Toro Company, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., Lindsay Corporation, Valmont Industries, Inc., Rain Bird Corporation, EPC Industries Limited, Netafim, Nelson Irrigation Corporation, Rivulis Irrigation, and T-L Irrigation Co.
Acquisitions/Technology Launches
- In October 2017, Jain Irrigation Systems Limited acquired U.S. micro irrigation entities Agri-Valley Irrigation, Inc. and design and Construction, Inc. to provide a unique platform to develop a fertigation process for better yield.
- In May 2017, Toro has partnered with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to support research efforts in GPS sprayer technology to benefit turf maintenance practices.
- In February 2015, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. acquired PureSense Environmental Inc. to combine PureSense’s field monitoring and irrigation management technology with Jain’s global irrigation manufacturing and food production platform and provide farmers with more access and capability to increase crop yields.
- In January 2015, Lindsay Corporation acquired Elecsys Corporation, to lead the market in advanced technologies for managing water use efficiency.
