As South African farmers face mounting challenges from climate variability and soil degradation, biostimulants are emerging as tools to support crop resilience, yield, and quality. Recent market research highlights growing adoption across vineyards, orchards, and increasingly, grain crops.
Venessa Moodley, biologicals lead at Omnia Agriculture, says the biostimulant landscape in South Africa currently includes seaweed extracts, amino acids, humic and fulvic acids.
"These products have gained the most traction in high-value crops such as vineyards, orchards, and other permanent crops, largely due to producers’ greater willingness to invest in higher input costs and the ease of integration into existing application processes."
Demand is also rising in dryland grain crops, such as maize. “Producers are starting to adapt their practices – for instance, applying biostimulants during planting – but the availability of bio-control solutions remains a challenge due to inconsistent efficacy results, high investment costs for registration and extended registration timelines,” Moodley adds.
Supporting plant health and climate resilience
Biostimulants enhance nutrient use efficiency, stress tolerance, and crop quality. Moodley explains: "Mineral fertilisers directly deliver essential macro and micro-nutrients for plant uptake and growth, whereas biostimulants aim to enhance the plant’s natural processes and resilience mechanisms."
By strengthening plants’ natural defences and stimulating biological activity in the rhizosphere, biostimulants support stronger root systems, improved nutrient uptake, and enhanced photosynthesis, leading to healthier growth and higher yields.
Moodley notes their role in climate resilience: “Some biostimulants, like seaweed extracts, act as osmoprotectants, helping plants maintain osmotic balance and reduce moisture loss during drought conditions. Biostimulants also trigger natural antioxidant activity in plants, helping neutralise the damage caused by oxidative stress during extreme heat or water scarcity.”
For biotic stresses, they may activate Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) and Acquired Systemic Resistance (SAR) pathways, “priming” plants to respond faster and more effectively to pests and diseases.
Challenges to adoption
Moodley highlights barriers, including inconsistent results if products are misapplied or environmental conditions are unsuitable. "This highlights the need for greater education and improved knowledge transfer around the correct use of biostimulants, their limitations, and realistic expectations of performance."
She adds that low-quality products and integration challenges can reduce confidence. "As an industry, we must prioritise developing solutions that integrate as seamlessly as possible into current farming systems."
Regulation also plays a key role: "Clearer guidelines for categorising biostimulants, along with requirements for scientifically proven efficacy trials and more cost-effective, time-efficient registration processes, will help increase adoption, build trust and encourage broader uptake."
Sustainable agriculture and export competitiveness
Biostimulants can support South Africa’s broader agri-export strategy by reducing dependence on intensive chemical inputs while maintaining yield and quality under variable conditions.
"Maintaining premium export quality produce with global compliance standards is critical for South Africa to remain competitive in the global market, and biostimulants can in-future play a pivotal role as a solution to a greener and more sustainable future," Moodley concludes.
