Industrial Sustainability: Economics, Cost, and Bioavailability of Biofertilizers

Biofertilizers have gained huge importance and attention in agriculture as they improve plant growth and thus yields of crops. Additionally, they have overcome the problems caused by the usage of chemical fertilizers to crop plants. Biofertilizers are the formulations of efficient microbes that will facilitate the plant’s uptake of nutrients from the soil through either direct or indirect mechanisms. Moreover, they also accelerate the other microbial processes in the soil. The advantages such as low cost, eco-friendly nature, and increased organic content in the soil make them a good strategy for sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizers help in preventing soil erosion as well as improving the soil structure. Also, biofertilizers have a longer shelf life and have no adverse effects on the environment. Biofertilizers are efficient enough to secrete and produce plant growth-regulating hormones like auxins, gibberellins, and cytokines having great importance in plant growth and development. Biofertilizers are a big breakthrough in the field of organic farming as it is completely dependent on the natural microflora of the soil. This chapter includes the economics, cost, as well as bioavailability of biofertilizers with respect to industries. The cost-benefit ratio for a farmer is also discussed in this chapter. The enhancement in cost-benefit ratio, as well as better economics, proved it as an economically feasible technology and is convincing the farmers for future adoption. Hence, in the current scenario, biofertilizers are an evitable input to minimize the use of synthetic fertilizers.