Biofortification Market Report, Global Market Share, Trend Analysis & Forecast

The nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices or modern biotechnology in the biofortification process. This process differs from conventional fortification, in which it aims to increase nutritional levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crop. Moreover, biofortification may therefore present a way to reach population where supplementation and conventional fortification activities may be difficult to implement and/or limited. Furthermore, according to consultative group for international agricultural research, more than two billion people in developing countries are subject to mineral and vitamin deficiencies. These deficiencies cause more frequent and serious sickness, sometimes leading to death; impaired cognitive abilities; blindness; constrained work performance; and smaller physical stature (stunting), all of which result in slower economic growth and more prolonged and more widespread poverty. In addition, according to World Health Organization in 2018, the burden of malnutrition across the world is unacceptably high and progress unacceptably slow. Malnutrition is responsible for more ill health than any other cause. Children under five years of age face multiple burdens: 150.8 million are stunted, 50.5 million are wasted and 38.3 million are overweight. Meanwhile 20 million babies are born of low birth weight each year. Overweight and obesity among adults are at record levels with 38.9% of adults overweight or obese, stretching from Africa to North America. Furthermore, one third of all women of reproductive age have anaemia and women have a higher prevalence of obesity than men. Millions of women are still underweight. Owing to all this nutritional deficiency across the world, biofortification market is projected to fuel the demand for biofortified crops globally. 

Biofortification Market Outlook

The biofortification market is driven by major factors such as rising demand for high nutritional content foods, increase in funds for agrigenomics and advancement in technologies. In addition, rising increasing demand for high nutritional foods in developing countries is also the factor that is raising the growth of the biofortification market globally. However, factor such as lower awareness about the benefits of biofortified crops is impeding the biofortification market growth. 

Biofortification Market Segmental Overview

The biofortification market is segmented by target nutrient, crop and geography 

Biofortification Market by Target Nutrient

Various target nutrients were studied in this report such as zinc, iron, vitamins and others (?-Carotene, Amino Acids, and Proteins). Increasing demand for high nutrient content in food, the demand for biofortified crops is rising. The growing demand for vitamins is observed owing to the growth in demand for functional and nutritionally enriched processed food products, feed fortification due to growth in global meat & dairy product consumption and increasing prevalence of vitamin deficiencies.

Biofortification Market by Crop

Based on crop, the biofortification market is segmented into sweet potato, cassava, rice, corn, wheat, beans, pearl millet and others (tomato, banana, sorghum, and barley). sweet potatoes is anticipated to drive by its greater demand from food manufacturer’s as companies are offering innovative everyday meal products, snacks, meals made with sweet potatoes.

Biofortification Market by Geography

The biofortification market report is studied across the key countries of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. Due to strong growth potential in agriculture of biofortification and rising demand for high nutritional content food in developing regions, the Asia Pacific region dominated the biofortification market in 2018.

Biofortification Market Key Players

Some of the major players operating in the biofortification market includes Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dowdupont, Monsanto, Charles River, Lemnatec, Intertek and Agro Biosciences Inc. Frequent mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships, product innovation, and geographical expansions are among the key strategies adopted by these players, to ensure long-term sustenance in the market. 

Biofortification Market Developments 

• November 2015: Intertek, a leading quality solutions provider to industries worldwide, has expanded local services and capabilities at their laboratory in Beira, Mozambique to offer support to local agricultural businesses throughout Mozambique and within the East African region.

• September 2016, Bayer and Monsanto announced that they signed a definitive merger agreement under which Bayer acquired Monsanto for USD 128 per share in an all-cash transaction. The combination also brings together both companies’ leading innovation capabilities and R&D technology platforms, with an annual pro-forma R&D budget of approximately EUR 2.5 billion.