Granular phosphorus engineered for calcareous soils. The humic coating and the granule’s own free-acid chemistry keep P available in the root zone instead of locking up as calcium phosphate — VAN’s core answer to Pakistan’s phosphorus-use-efficiency problem.
80–95% of Pakistani soils are phosphorus-deficient, and soil pH sits far above the 6.0–7.0 window where phosphorus stays available. On calcareous ground, free calcium captures most of what a farmer spreads before a root ever reaches it.
Phosphorus is not lost to the air like nitrogen, or leached like potassium. It is still there — but in the season the farmer paid for it, the crop recovers only about a fifth. It is the largest single line in Pakistan’s fertilizer import bill, bought in dollars and locked up in the first season.
Figures as cited in VAN’s 2026 product literature — Ahmad, M. et al. (2022), Sustainability 14(13), 7669.
About 80% of applied phosphate never reaches the crop — in the season it was spread for
First-season fate of conventional phosphate on calcareous ground, share of the amount applied
Data source: as cited in VAN’s 2026 product literature — Ahmad et al. (2022), Sustainability 14(13), 7669. Figure is first-season crop recovery, approximate — the phosphorus is captured, not destroyed, which is why the next paragraph matters.
DAP’s label says 46. Green Phosphate’s says 32. The label number is about the bag — the number that pays the farmer is about the root. Phosphorus-use efficiency is that second number: of the kilograms you paid for, how many the crop can actually take.
A 50 kg bag, on calcareous ground — what the label says, and what gets through
Kilograms of P₂O₅, drawn to one scale. Label contents are registered analysis; the DAP availability figure is derived from the cited ~20% first-season recovery of conventional phosphate on this ground.
Green Phosphate6-32-0 · engineered against fixationHow to read this honestly: the DAP arithmetic uses only published figures — 46% × 50 kg = 23 kg, and the cited ~20% availability of conventional phosphate on calcareous ground. For Green Phosphate, VAN prints the reaches-the-crop number when its own replicated trial signs off, not before. What is already measurable is the chemistry that removes the conditions fixation needs — and the certificate of analysis for every batch, on request against the batch number.
How much applied phosphorus stays plant-available, by soil pH — fixed by iron and aluminium below pH 6, by calcium above pH 7.
Availability peaks between pH 6 and 7 — most Pakistani cropping soils sit above it
Relative share of applied phosphorus that stays plant-available, by soil pH band (illustrative)
Note: the shape is standard soil chemistry — fixation by iron and aluminium below pH 6, by calcium above pH 7. Bands are illustrative, not measurements of a particular field.
The shape of this relationship is standard soil chemistry. The bars are illustrative — not a measurement of any particular field. Green Phosphate carries its own free phosphoric acid at the granule surface while its bulk reaction stays near neutral — measured at pH (1%) 6.5–7.5 — so the chemistry in the few centimetres that matter is not the alkaline zone that fixes phosphate.
What is engineered in, beyond the two declared nutrients.
The granule carries 3% free phosphoric acid — a measured COA figure — while its bulk reaction stays near neutral at pH (1%) 6.5–7.5. The phosphate dissolves into a micro-environment that is not the alkaline reaction zone DAP creates, so it stays in solution long enough for a root to find it.
Humic substances are coated onto the granule. They chelate the calcium, iron and aluminium that would otherwise capture the phosphate, and they improve soil structure and biology where they land.
Bio-available fermentable sugars feed the soil microbial population, raising phosphatase activity — the enzyme route by which stable organic phosphorus is mineralised back into an available form.
Nitrogen is held at a basal 6% rather than loaded in. High ammoniacal nitrogen at sowing risks ammonia injury to a germinating seedling; this grade is built to sit safely beside seed.
Magnesium and a biostimulant fraction are also part of the formulation. They are named without figures because they are not label-declared.
DAP is the phosphate most Pakistani growers buy. This is what differs.
VAN publishes no head-to-head efficiency percentage between the two. The chemistry is the argument.
A green ✓ COA means VAN’s PNAC-accredited laboratory measured it. From the registered Technical Data Sheet.
| Parameter | Specification | Status | Physical property | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen (N) | 6% | ✓ COA | Physical status | Granular | ✓ COA |
| Phosphorus (P₂O₅) | 32% | ✓ COA | Colour | Brown | ✓ COA |
| Free ammonia | <250 ppm | ✓ COA | Particle size | 1–3 mm | ✓ COA |
| Biuret | 1.5% | ✓ COA | Moisture | <1% | ✓ COA |
| Free H₃PO₄ | 3% | ✓ COA | pH (1%) | 6.5–7.5 | ✓ COA |
| Other ingredients | to 100% | Solubility | 250 g/L |
Three ways in, in order of preference — the root has to reach the granule, because the granule will not reach the root.
Places the granule in the seed row at sowing, exactly where the first roots will emerge, in one pass.
A concentrated band beside or below the row — saturates the fixing capacity of a small soil volume rather than feeding all of it.
Even spread at land preparation, worked in. Simplest and most common — and the one that exposes the most granule surface to the most soil.
This table is a sample — Green Phosphate appears in 26 of the 28 published programmes. Rates are per acre; a soil test is the rate to finish with.
| Crop | Stage | Dose per acre | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garlic | Land preparation | 2 bags (100 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Sesame | Land preparation | 1 bag (50 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Soybean | Land preparation | ½ bag (25 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Lentil | Land preparation | ½ bag (25 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Mungbean & Mash | Land preparation | ½ bag (25 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Canola | Land preparation | 1 bag (50 kg) | Side dressing / broadcasting |
| Chickpea | Land preparation | ½ bag (25 kg) | Broadcasting |
| Watermelon | Land preparation | 1.5 bags (75 kg) | Broadcasting |
Growing a different crop? The full stage-by-stage programme for 28 crops is in the crop nutrition plans on van.com.pk/crops. For the mid-season rise in phosphorus demand, VAN’s answer is a soluble fertigation phosphate — V-Phosphate — applied at the stage the second peak occurs.
| Registration & standard | PS 933-2026 · Licence CM/L-2719/2023, printed on the pack |
| Pack sizes | 50 kg bag · 35 kg bag — granular; a powder grade is also produced |
| Quality | Every batch tested before it ships in VAN’s PNAC-accredited laboratory — ISO/IEC 17025:2017, LAB 336 |
| Certificate on request | Send the batch number off the bag and VAN sends the certificate of analysis for that batch. No charge, no sample, no form. |
Green Phosphate’s specification can be produced under your brand — same line, same QC, your name on the pack. Or carry it as a VAN brand through the distributor programme. Two further grades extend it — NP 5-40 and NP 8-38 + sulfur — held unbranded in VAN’s formulation library for a partner to take.
