Once upon a time, people used to live in the natural surroundings. Close to the land that would feed them. But in the last several decades, as society has progressed towards urbanisation, the disconnect between people and their natural surroundings, and more importantly, on how food is grown has only grown wider. Living in the digital age, glued to our screens, we’ve become so insular that what we can’t see, we cannot appreciate. But it is to this unseen world, that lies at the very heart of human existence, that we’d like to draw your attention to.

Life without food is impossible and what powers food is agriculture. In its service is our corporate endeavour, Agrifields.

Agrifields was born on the back of a simple realisation. That for India to succeed, Indian agriculture must succeed. Its success in turn depends on the access to world class fertliser products.

Bringing these products to the Indian market became Agrifield’s mission. Offering not just one or two but the full suite of fertiliser products, from raw materials to intermediates and finished products, sourced from producers across the world.

Before Agrifields this business was being done in bits and pieces, dribs and drabs, by traditional companies with little or no ambition. Reimagining fertliser products as one big suite of offerings, sourced from world class producers has led Agrifields to become one of the leading and dependable companies in its sector.

Agrifields has grown alongside India’s growth and the country’s need for fertlisers in the agriculture sector. According to the International Fertiliser Association, India is the world's second largest consumer of fertilizers (behind China) and is mainly a Nitrogen producing country. This has meant that India is the world's second largest manufacturer of urea, contributing to 14% of global production; but it needs to import ammonia and urea to cover its domestic annual requirement. As regards Phosphate, India is the world's largest importer of phosphate rock, phosphoric acid and DAP, representing respectively 30%, 50% and 33% of the global trade in 2015. India is deficient in Potassium supply and has to import virtually all its potassium needs. As the country has very limited Potash reserves, its imports represent 9% of global MOP imports.

There are three essential ingredients that fertile soil needs, nitrogen or N, phosphate or P and K or potash. Agrifields operates across the whole spectrum of fertliser products, that’s N, P and K including all bulk fertilisers:

N: Ammonia/Urea/Ammonium Sulphate
P: Phosphate rock, Phosphoric acid
K: Muriate of potash, sulphate of Potash
S: Sulphuric acid

Agrifields first started with procurement of water soluble fertilisers. Water soluble fertilisers are fertilisers that can be dissolved in water and are applied directly to the plant through drip irrigation and foliar application. In comparison to the method say where a fertliser is sprayed on the crops by the farmer using his hands. The company procures the products from all corners of the globe. For instance, it procures potash from Canada and Germany. Sulfuric acid from Korea, Japan, China and Philippines. Rock phosphate from various origins in Africa and Middle East. And this is just a fraction of its global supplier network.

The company today sells these fertlisers to some of the leading fertliser manufacturing companies in India, both who purchase these products in the form of raw materials, intermediaries or as finished products.

Agrifields’s existence is essential to facilitate this trade between the producers of these products to its end users. Primarily because in such a business buyers and sellers don’t like to bear risks of procurement and supply chain on themselves. This risk is largely borne by companies like Agrifields. Not only does Agrifields facilitate this trade but it manages the supply chain, from start to finish.