Fungicides Turn More Bio-Based For Added Non-Toxicity and Sustainability

The growing challenges of the twenty-first century population demands for enhanced food production has ushered in more efficient and productive farming practices. The use of fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides to inhibit the growth and spread of harmful pests and microbes has gained prominence in several crop rearing techniques.

The fungicides market, in particular, has exhibited considerable growth in the last few years, owing to the rise in demand for varied fungicides to meet differing crop needs. The industry has scaled great heights augmented by the rising demands of pesticides for enhancing crop production.

The global Fungicides Market is in a developmental market phase, with synthetic fungicides, dithiocarbamates, benzimidazoles, chloronitriles, and bio-fungicides gaining strong foothold in the market. The entire market is estimated to earn a whopping $16.2 billion by the year 2022. This would be feasible with a projected CAGR of 5.4% during the period 2016–2022. There are many research and development projects being undertaken by agrochemical companies for the innovation of bio-based fungicides.

A conscious approach matters

The use of fungicides has gained widespread popularity among farmers and cultivators to inhibit the spread of fungal diseases among crops. Its preemptive application among various types of crops, such as cereal, grain, oilseed, pulses, fruits, and vegetables is meant to act as a fungistatic and prevent fungal infections among plant.

However, the excessive usage of fungicides could mean a whole set of other problems for the crop’s health as well as productivity. The fungicides that were once meant to save trees have begun to be threatening gardens and orchards’ growth. It has turned fatal for the honeybees that ingest these fungicides, as they have trouble breaking down the phytochemicals in their natural food. The excessive usage of fungicides has proven to be potentially toxic for the plant’s health too.

These issues have raised concerns among the food cultivators as well as farmers, who have begun to take a more conscious approach to the use of fungicides. Even regulatory bodies have brought several toxic chemical-laden fungicides under the scanner and are taking steps to curb the same. For instance, the usage of Carbendazim fungicide has been banned by the FDA since 2012.

This was mainly because the traces of this chemical, when ingested by humans, is known to cause health issues such as cancer and infertility. It is imperative that we adopt a more sustainable approach towards the use of pest control methods, so as not to affect the organic nature of crops and make them toxic for consumption.

Bio-based fungicides — going the organic way

The emergence of bio-based fungicides has been brought about as a conscious step towards the use of fungicides that are more organic and non-toxic. Researchers and crop cultivators are focusing on the formulation of fungicides that are constituted of organic or active ingredients, such as polymer-based inorganic silica-based nanoparticles.

For instance, Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc., a prominent name in the bio-based pest management solutions and products, has recently unveiled the latest of its new formulation, REGALIA biofungicide. The product is believed to highly effective for conventional as well as organic crop production by triggering the treated plants to produce disease-fighting biochemical. It also enhances plant health by optimizing the yield too.

Market distribution across regions

Geographically speaking, Europe comprises the most dominant market where fungicide usage is significantly high in terms of fruit and vegetable production along with wheat and vineyard. France boasts of being the largest consumer of fungicides, within Europe. In the U.S., fungicides are widely used in the production of apple, potato, pecan and blueberry. The country holds around 80% market share of the North American fungicide market. The Asia-Pacific region has significant growth potential for fungicide as it is a major hub of cereals and grains production. With proper adherence to the recommended usage of fungicides, the use of the same wouldn’t really pose much harm and eventually contribute to an established market.

Mufassira is a content writer at Allied Analytics Llp. She holds a bachelor's degree in business management. Mufassira reads, researches, and writes actively on a diverse range of topics including current industry trends.