ICL and BioPrime Join Forces to Tackle Phosphorus and Zinc Deficiency in Indian Soils

12 September 2025, Pune: ICL has entered into a long-term partnership with BioPrime to launch soil and crop health solutions in India powered by BioPrime’s Bionexus platform.

Through this partnership, the initial focus will be on products that enhance Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE). Using ICL’s expertise in crop nutrition and plant health management, the first set of solutions will target Phosphorus (P) and Zinc (Zn) efficiency—two of the most limiting and expensive nutrients for Indian farmers. India consumes nearly 12% of the world’s phosphate but remains heavily import-dependent, with up to 85% of applied phosphorus getting locked or leached due to soil conditions. Similarly, 48% of Indian soils are zinc-deficient, projected to rise to 63% with declining fertility, particularly in Southern states.

Phosphorus represents a challenge. India faces a problem where the majority of P gets locked with iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al), unlike other regions where it is more commonly bound with calcium (Ca). As a result, most current solutions are ineffective at releasing usable P, leading to declining Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE).

Through BioPrime’s Bionexus platform, several microbial strains have been identified with the ability to release P from these Fe/Al-bound forms. These strains have shown potential to improve PUE by 2–3X.

Similarly, Bionexus has identified strains capable of 65–70% solubilization of Zinc, ensuring higher availability of this micronutrient.

These solutions aim to help farmers optimize resource utilization, improve nutrient uptake, and reduce fertilizer wastage while maintaining precision, consistency, and quality control.

This collaboration is the first partnership for BioPrime’s BioNexus Library, a platform housing over 18,000 microbial strains. Each strain has features designed to improve soil and crop health.

With ICL’s presence and distribution in India, the products will be made accessible across the country.

Renuka Karandikar, Co-founder and CEO of BioPrime AgriSolutions, said the company’s mission has always been to harness the power of biology to address agriculture’s toughest challenges, and that the partnership with ICL is a strategic step forward. According to her, ICL’s support provides the scale, expertise, and reach to bring the Bionexus platform to farmers in India, with the goal of improving nutrient use efficiency, restoring soil health, and transforming agriculture into a more resilient system.

Anant Kulkarni, Country Lead for ICL Growing Solutions India, added that ICL is committed to advancing agriculture in India with biofertilizers that improve resilience, productivity, and soil health. He noted that with ICL’s R&D-driven WSF portfolio, the integration of bio-stimulants into crop plans will help growers increase both productivity and profitability, and that biofertilizers will play a key role in combining innovation with environmental responsibility to support India’s food security and growth.

Also Read: CNH to Establish New Tractor Manufacturing Plant in India as Part of Growth Strategy

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