Copyright thehindubusinessline
Modern agriculture continues to depend on synthetic petrochemical fertilisers, a legacy of the green revolution. This dependence has had profound environmental and economic consequences. The production and use of synthetic nitrogen are crucial to the climate crisis because they produce the powerful greenhouse gas nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases. Consequently, the large-scale application of these fertilisers is one of the major contributors to the increase in harmful emissions. Moreover, the long-term use of these fertilisers is weakening the most critical element of our food system: the soil. For the land to regain health, the vital organic matter must increase, and the soil’s complex and beneficial microbial community must regenerate; otherwise, the soil will make the crops increasingly unresponsive to the applied chemicals. The biological revolution Shifting the agricultural framework from an input-intensive chemical paradigm to an ecologically optimised one represents a significant milestone: the advent of biofertilisers, or microbial inoculants. These natural inputs appreciate the potential of biofixing microorganisms, including Azotobacter, Rhizobium and Mycorrhizae. The use of biofertilisers offers a reliable and viable option for climate-smart agriculture. Specifically, biofertilisers address the most pertinent and interlinked challenges of sustainable food production: improving food crop productivity, mitigating climate change and enhancing the resilience of food crops to climate change. Fortifying the earth’s natural sponge The establishment of a radical biofertilisation paradigm in agricultural practices for the mitigation of change is unprecedented because it establishes a measurable biofertiliser agricultural carbon sink. Reviews of various climate-related studies geographically synthesising climate studies and their crop soil amendments confirmed the use of microbial inoculants to profitably raise the soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. Soil carbon sequestration involves a complex synergy of diverse and multifaceted biological pathways, particularly the microbial community and its functional members. One of the soil carbon storage mechanisms involves the rapid self-turnover of the soil microbial community. Furthermore, the secretion of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) by soil microbes is a critical component in forming stable soil aggregates. These soil aggregates store and protect carbon from erosion and rapid decomposition, thereby contributing to a nature-based carbon sink. Biofertilisers stimulate an indirect growth in their use, which encourages increased harvesting and an increase in the amount of plant residue left in the field. This, in turn, ultimately leads to an increase in soil carbon. In addition, biofertilisers replace lost soil microbial life, which has decayed due to long-term use of chemicals. Thus, providing more than simple nutrient supplementation. The enhanced nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and decreased reliance on harmful synthetic fertilisers result from optimised biological nitrogen fixation and the unlocking of nutrients stored in the soil. This phenomenon is mainly observed in legume crops. Improved NUE reduces the necessity for energy-intensive synthetic fertilisers, which are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions during their production. The excessive emission of nitrous oxide from the overuse of synthetic nitrogen illustrates the cost-effectiveness of this biological approach. Ultimately, biofertilisers provide a natural and safe nutrient source while reducing dependence on chemicals. It is important to note that without this biological approach, this safe supply of nutrients also leads to increased environmental toxicity and global warming. Crop certainty in a dynamic climate By improving the stability of food systems and increasing the productivity of crops during periods of environmental stress, biofertilisers help food systems withstand climate volatility. Numerous global studies demonstrate that yield increases are a result of the use of inoculants on crops as opposed to those that do not use inoculants. Crucially, these beneficial microbes tend to perform even better during stressful conditions. In dry climates, where crops are most susceptible to damage and the soils are marginally productive, the yield improvement is even greater. For this reason, biofertilisers are important as biological insurance in the face of climate change. This resilience has its biochemical and microbial bases. Some specific microbial strains help the plant to withstand stress conditions by modulating the plant’s stress response and hormonal balance up to a certain level. In extreme conditions, for example, they produce and excrete natural plant growth hormones and strengthen the base of more branched roots on the plant, which is a great advantage in drier or rainfed regions to help the plant scavenge more water and nutrients. Other inoculants can neutralise precursors of the stress hormone ethylene in somewhat large quantities, which allows crops to function normally even during drought or salinity stress. This mechanism, combined with the microbes’ ability to unlock nutrients in challenging alkaline soils, provides a comprehensive biological solution for yield security. Biofertilisers: Future food security By prioritising internal biological processes rather than relying on external chemicals, biofertilisers redistribute the scope of agronomic inputs. Their effectiveness is demonstrated in the literature, in climate mitigation through soil carbon accumulation, and in value addition via improvements in plant nutrient use efficiency. Furthermore, their climate adaptability is assured due to their performance under climate stress. Adaptation of modern formulation technologies is the most critical next step to resolving the dichotomy between biological effectiveness and commercial availability at the required scale to guarantee that these microbial inoculants become the linchpins of resilient and sustainable global revolutionary food systems. (The author is President, IPL Biologicals) Published on November 1, 2025
