BioPrime Agrisolutions’ biological nutrition and tech-enabled services 

Founded by three researchers, BioPrime Agrisolutions provides nano-based biological crop nutrition and tech-enabled services to help farmers worldwide struggling with crop loss, temperature fluctuations, drought, resilient insects, and diseases.

Founded in 2016, an El-Nino year, the farmers had to choose between either compromising on the yield or protecting the crops from the abiotic stress. “This was the inspiration to initiate the BioPrime journey—a journey where the farmer doesn’t have to choose between yield and adaptability of the crops. Since then, we have explored the wisdom of nature to discover cutting-edge sustainable solutions, delivering delight to the farmers,” Renuka Diwan, CEO, BioPrime Agrisolutions said.

The biological crop nutrition products from BioPrime Agrisolutions work on hormone activations inside the plant, which confers resistance during stressed weather conditions. With the products, farmers have been able to climate-proof their crops to protect yields. “We receive consistent feedback from across the country on the resilience of plants treated with our products in extreme weather conditions. As the ill-effects of abiotic stress continue to compromise yield and quality, our products have become farmer-preferred and enjoy extraordinary word of mouth,” Diwan said.

Along with the biological solutions, the agri-biotech company has developed technological platforms such as SNIPR and Bionexus to prioritize sustainable practices over synthetic inputs. The company develops its products by leveraging HRF-DH and PTC(plant tissue culture) technology. “Through our in-house platforms such as SNIPR and Bionexus, we have brought the boons of beneficial organisms extracted from the plants to provide climate resilience, manage pests and diseases, and improve soil fertility,” Diwan said.

SNIPR is Bioprime’s proprietary high throughput screening platform that aids in the discovery and development of biomolecules for physiology modulation. SNIPR has proven to increase productivity, reduce crop losses, increase shelf life, and reduce post-harvest losses across a variety of crops.

To improve yields and provide resilience to crops against climate change using the wisdom of nature, the company launched a project named Bionexus. It has built India’s largest functional microbiome library, primarily focusing on plant trait modifications with over 17,000 microbes, which have been collected from 13 agroclimatic zones out of 15 in India. With our Bionexus microbe discoveries, we aim to safeguard the agricultural biodiversity to contribute towards the stability of the ecosystem for thriving agricultural produce, fertile soil, and higher crop productivity.

In the PTC technology, the agri-biotechnology company encompasses doubled haploidy, genetic transformation, organ and suspension cultures, somatic embryogenesis, regeneration, and micropropagation, in vitro secondary metabolite production, and in vitro mutagenesis and selection.

Challenges and solutions

Abnormal temperatures, scanty rainfall, and sudden temperature drops have emerged as the biggest roadblocks to attaining optimum yield. The pressure of abiotic conditions makes it conducive for pest attacks. The traditional form of agricultural inputs has limitations to mitigate these challenges and provide an affordable solution to the farmers.

Diwan said the company offers solutions to farmers to mitigate such challenges. “Our products are powered by secondary metabolites extracted from natural sources meant to work against abiotic stress conditions. We design our products to modulate specific pathways in the plant to induce an anti-stress response. Our products are developed keeping the life cycle of crops in the center, which helps the farmer choose the best fit as per the crop’s requirement.”

In Narayangaon, Maharashtra, for example, chilli is a commonly grown crop. However, farmers now hesitate to plant the crop in April as the temperatures go 2 to 3 degrees above normal. The chances of sapling mortality are high. “Our seaweed and botanical extract products confer resistance to the saplings and there is negligible mortality. Farmers have been able to sow and reap significant profits at the harvesting time,” Diwan explains.

Collaborations

She says collaboration with corporate houses and foundations can help innovations reach different parts of the country faster. “The corporates have reach and the ability to educate and market the products. We complement this with our innovation and research-backed products.”

Recently, BioPrime co-developed a biostimulant for a large Indian conglomerate with a major interest in agriculture to target the early maturity of fruits and vegetables to help the farmers time the market to get better returns.

It is working with corporates such as DCM Shriram and Agrostar for the co-development of products, with companies such as Delta Agrostar, BigHaat, Bharat Agri, and organizations such as Tata Trust-Social Alpha, and Deshpande Foundation for product distribution.

Talking about future plans, Diwan shed light on the upcoming innovations in the Indian market from BioPrime Agrisolutions in the form of novel bio-fungicides, fertilizer additives, and various seed treatment products.