Thats a good question. This is one of the areas where biofertilizers have failed to deliver in terms of realising it's full potential . Bioferlizers can never be a source of nutrients,,they effectively act as nutrient enhancers.Genuine strain of effective microbe and their shelf life are major constraints...

Very good question. But I don't think you will get an exact cost of production from any source. It varies from region to region. For Indian context, Institute like ICAR prepares this kind of estimate. You can check their brochure, but better you try to figure out the cost by yourself by trying it for the first time on a very small scale.

@ Debojyoti, you may contact IFFCO, they are now commercially producing biofertilizer at IFFCO-Kalol unit.

Commercial production of biofertilizers is in progress at many institutions. many semi govt agencies are preparing and selling them to the farmers. Main problem with the commercial production of biofertilizers is their quality control.

I don't know Sir.

Hi Debojyoti Roychowdhury,

I went through this back in 2006 and we have established the first vermicomposting operation in 2007 and growing since.

It comes back to developing a sound and conservative business model. Every business model is different and as we are operating on 5 locations each one is different. Including different inputs, qualities volumes resources etc.

But scale matters: if you can operate at industrial scale the costs come down.

Marketing is a key, and you need to understand the demand and price the market is willing to pay at larger volumes. Unfortunately - or from a competing aspect luckily - there is not one answer to it.

Start not too big and make sure you cover the risks.

Good luck - leaving a CRI and start a commercial operation is a challenge but I would do it again. And there is still a lot of space for research - more applied studies than in the lab but exciting too.

Regards

Michael

PS hope to catching up with you in 5 years when you are in business.

What is the major limitation in commercial production of biofertilizers on a large scale...Is it the shelf life or maintaenance of pure culture after number of subculturing ...

The limiting factor is the market for the final product. End users do not see the value. Mineral fertilisers are more "understood" as this is the first thing you learn in school or university. There is no lobby for biofertilizers, soil conditioners, or plant growth regulators. Less funds for biofertilisers meaning less confounding less publication less advertisement less knowledge. It is very interesting to learn how many agricultural consultant don't know about humus or even vermicast. But NPK is everyone knows.

With the right IP and technology it is possible to produce 10,000 tonnes of vermicast after a couple of years but creating a market for selling this volume at fair price is the challenge. I receive requests on a regular basis to assist in marketing and selling vermicompost from producers all over the world.

Shelf life is not a problem. The worm population will adjust itself. The problem is demand and supply.

Hope this helps without discouraging.

Venezuela began to produce biofertilizer since 2007 with help of researchers from Cuba. Trichoderma, Beauveria, Azotobacter and others. Cuba has protocols for small production and commercial production.

Dr. Martinez is one of the specialists of biofertilizer production (Cuba)

Thank you @ Maria Angelica Ormeno madam for your valuable suggestion.

commercial bio fertilizers were produced initially from Sugarcane crop from Pushpam college Poondi Thanjavur district TN in collaboration with three sugar factories with DST project first time, Gave training for all sugar factories in collaboration with Tamilnadu Sugar Federation, Now they are preparing their own biofertilizers and biopesticides, This transfer of technology helped many farmers, Similarly Vermicompost was prepared and trained many farmers to use commercially Today we have liquid biofertilizers for all crops

Hello, it is not my field, but give a look at EMBRAPA. You can translate using Google and it can give you some ways.

(1) https://www.embrapa.br/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/615572/azotobacter-em-solos-acidos

(2) https://www.embrapa.br/hortalicas/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/664309/vermicompostagem

(3) https://www.embrapa.br/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/698959/manual-de-vermicompostagem

And about the market:

(1) https://www.sebrae.com.br/sites/PortalSebrae/ideias/como-montar-um-negocio-para-criacao-de-minhocas,e6497a51b9105410VgnVCM1000003b74010aRCRD

(2) https://ainfo.cnptia.embrapa.br/digital/bitstream/item/128305/1/ABC-Minhocultura-ed02-2014.pdf

Cattle manure - Cow dung is the main basis

(1) http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-06832018000100527

(2) http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782016000300472