Functional Crop Care Market size is forecast to reach $36.3 billion by 2025, after growing at a CAGR of 6.9% during 2020-2025, owing to the vital role of functional crop care products in controlling the diseases, insects, and weeds that harm or destroy the food crops and harm public health. With growing global populations that constantly challenge food production, functional crop care products offer a means towards meeting the challenge of more food from less land. Thus, the increasing demand for functional crop care products, as they are being extensively used to destroy or suppress the growth of harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, or fungi on the crops, is anticipated to drive the functional crop care market substantially during the forecast period.
Key Takeaways
- Asia Pacific dominates the functional crop care market, owing to the increasing agricultural investments by the government in various regions. In May 2019, NABARD announced an investment of Rs 700 crore (US$ 100 million) venture capital fund for equity investments in agriculture and rural-focused start-ups in India.
- The functional crop care products help the farmers to produce more with less land, ensure bountiful harvests and help keep food affordable due to which the demand for functional crop care products is increasing, which is driving the functional crop care market during the forecast period.
- The functional crop care products help in reducing the waterborne and insect-transmitted diseases and even remove the hardship of hand weeding due to which the demand for functional crop care products is increasing, which is driving the functional crop care market during the forecast period.
By Soil Management – Segment Analysis
The nitrogen soil management held the largest share in the functional crop care market in 2019, owing to the necessity of nitrogen availability in the crops for better nutrition and yield potential. For balanced nutrition, growers need to optimize uptake of nutrients and reduce nitrogen loss as it is an essential nutrient for plant growth, development, and reproduction. Nitrogen management of soil is extremely vital because it is a major component of chlorophyll, which is an important compound for photosynthesis in plants. Also, because it is a major component of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Without proteins, plants tend to wither and die. Nitrogen soil management technology ensures nitrogen is available to the crops all the time. This improves the yields possible and gives growers a powerful way to protect their crop investments and the environment.
By Seed Solutions – Segment Analysis
The biological seed solution segment held the largest share in the functional crop care market in 2019, owing to the increasing demand for biological seed treatment solutions for minimizing crop loss. The biological seed treatment solutions have a clear effect against pests or diseases and ensure that farmers protect their potential yield and quality. Also, the biological seed treatment solutions increase the crop resilience against abiotic stress like drought-, salinity stress, and improve the uptake of plant nutrients. The biological seed treatment solution covers the whole seed due to which the beneficial ingredients are available to the seed when it requires them. All these extensive properties of biological seed treatment solutions are the key factor anticipated to boost the demand for biological seed solutions during the forecast period.
By Crop Type – Segment Analysis
The food crop held the largest share in the functional crop care 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. During the 20th century, several Asian countries adopted policies to support and protect rice producers through subsidies, guaranteed prices, and barriers to imports to stabilize rice prices, reducing dependency on foreign supplies, increasing farm income, and improving nutrition among the poor. 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 since 2003, an average growth rate of 1.7 percent. According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), rice consumption in 2019-20 is estimated at 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, which is anticipated to drive the functional crop care market in the food crop sector during the forecast period.
By Crop Care – Segment Analysis
The crop protection product held the largest share in the functional crop care market in 2019 and is growing at a CAGR of 5.9%, owing to its vital role in controlling the pests and diseases that infect, consume or damage crops thereby significantly reducing the quantity and quality of food production. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization globally, farmers lose 30 to 40 percent of their crops due to pests and diseases. Thus, crop protection products such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides help control insects, diseases, weeds, fungi, and other undesirable pests. The annual crop losses could double without the use of crop protection products. With growing global populations that constantly challenge food production, crop protection products offer a means towards meeting the challenge of more food from less land, which is anticipated to drive the crop production products the most in the functional crop care market during the forecast period.
By Geography – Segment Analysis
Asia Pacific region held the largest share in the functional crop care market in 2019 up to 37%, owing to the increasing agricultural investments by the government in the region. In 2016, according to China’s Ministry of Agriculture, over 1,300 Chinese enterprises had overseas investments in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries valued at $26 billion. The total quantum of private investment in India is projected to increase from Rs. 61,000 crore (USD 8,170.97 million) in 2015-16 to Rs. 139,424 (USD 18,675.90 million) crore by 2022-23 (with an added investment of Rs. 78,424 crore (USD 10,504.93)). The Indian government introduced Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi Yojana under Budget 2019-20, in which a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3000 (US$ 42.92) is to be provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, on attaining the age of 60 years. In Japan, digital farming technology has been developed to help experienced farmers to use water and fertilizers more efficiently. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Asia Pacific accounts for more than 90 percent of world rice production and consumption and some developing countries in the Asia Pacific will need to increase their food production by up to 77 percent to feed their people by 2050. Thus, such government initiatives are increasing the demand for crops which is further increasing the functional crop care products demand. All increasing demand for functional crop care products for easy production of the crop is anticipated to drive the functional crop care market in APAC during the forecast period.
Drivers – Functional Crop Care Market
- Increasing Governments Initiatives
The governments are spending heavily on initiatives and investments in the field of agriculture as it is one of the most effective ways of reducing hunger and poverty, promoting agricultural productivity, and enhancing environmental sustainability. The United States Department of Agriculture took an initiative – “The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)” to ensure food safety and security, enhance human nutrition, and train the next generation of the agricultural workforce. In 2020, the Canadian government invested a total of $560,000 on the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) to develop the Canadian Agri-Food Sustainability Initiative. The Indian government-funded a total of US$ 1.66 billion to 558 deals in between 2013-17 to agrifood start-ups in India. The 2010- 2013 National Strategy for France’s Sustainable Development aimed to develop a more sustainable food production and support green economy and business innovation, and during the tenure, it achieved a higher domestic organic production and consumption. 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 functional crop care market during the forecast period.
Challenges – Functional Crop Care Market
- Health Hazards From Crop Protection Products
Crop protection products such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and more are poisons and they can harm more than just the pests at which they are targeted. They are toxic and exposure to crop protection products can cause several health hazards. They are also known to cause short-term adverse health effects, called acute effects such as stinging eyes, rashes, blisters, blindness, nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea. The crop protection products also cause chronic health effects such as cancer and other tumors, brain and nervous system damage, birth defects, infertility and damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs and other body organs. Chronic effects of crop protection products may not appear for years after exposure, making it difficult to link health impacts to crop protection products. Also, crop care products have been implicated in human studies of leukemia, lymphoma, and cancers of the brain, breasts, prostate, testis, and ovaries. Reproductive harm from them includes birth defects, stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, sterility, and infertility. These health hazards from pesticides may hinder the functional crop care market growth during the forecast period.
- Covid-19 Impact on The Functional Crop Care Market
The production of vegetables, fruits, wine, and crops requires extensive crop care such as seed treatment, soil management, crop protection, and more. But over the coming months, due to the COVID – 19 Outbreak, the production in these sectors is expecting to experience 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.
Market Landscape
Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the functional crop care market. In 2019, the market of functional crop care has been consolidated by the top five players accounting for xx% of the share. Major players in the functional crop care market are Syngenta AG, Bayer Crop Science, BASF SE, Dow Agro Sciences, FMC, Adama Ltd., Nufarm Ltd., Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., UPL Limited, Nutrichem Company Limited.
Acquisitions/Technology Launches
- In January 2020, BASF SE announced its new regional production hub in Singapore for its Agricultural Solutions business in the Asia Pacific. The facility has been designed to handle six different formulation technologies and to supply the company’s patented crop protection products to farmers across the fast-growing Asia Pacific region.
