Department of Economic Analysis and Research
2
In northern India and regions with extreme weather
conditions like severe winter and summer, the
commercial crop production is limited to 7 to 8 months.
To cultivate crops in all 12 months there is need for
controlled greenhouses /poly houses with heating
system or pad and fan system will be added cost and
the capital investment will be about 20 to 25 % more as
compare to southern region.
•
Advanatges of techncolgy
• Off season production
• Production exotic varieties with high quality standards
• Yield is 5 - 15 times more than open cultivation
• Less chances of disease attack, thus reduction in disease control cost
• Higher Efficiency of Water & Fertilizer Use
• Cultivation in problematic topography, soil conditions and climate conditions
• Can be fully automated requiring very less labor and manual intervention
•
Green House/ Poly House Components
• Pre galvanised Iron / wooden and bamboo structure
• UV stabilized covering materials of Polyethylene / Polycarbonate / Acrylic
• Heating system in cold climate
• Cooling pad and Fan System
• Shading / Thermal Net
• Trellising system for vegetable
• Trestles system for flowers
• Side wall roll up curtains
• Micro Irrigation System
• Fertigation System
• Misting System
• CO2 Generator
• Control System /Weather Station
• Planting material, artificial growing media
• Hydroponics/aeropoins
3. Growth of Protected Cultivation
The commercial protected cultivation was first
introduced to the country in 1990s for establishing
100% export oriented units for Rose cultivation. The
first few projects were set up in Bangaluru and Pune
regions as these centers were found to be ideal with
suitable agro climatic conditions and proximity to
airports for quick exports. Most of the projects came
up with collaboration from companies from Netherland
and Israel having expertise in building and managing
ploy houses. Entire poly house structures and plant
materials were imported from these countries and with
O&M contract for first one year or more. At that time,
unit size of 4 ha with all production and captive post-
harvest management infrastructure like pre cooling,
grading and packaging, cold room and refrivans etc.,
was considered to be viable unit size. Average cost was
about Rs. 200 to Rs. 250 lakh per hectare of poly house.
Majority of the unit came up during initial period
suffered losses due to following reasons:
• Very high cost of project due to 100% import
technology and components
• FocusononlyRoseproduction, lackof diversification
• Gaps in production technology and quality
• Lack skilled manpower
• Lack of adequate cold chain infrastructure
• Poor air connectivity to importing countries and
higher air fright
• Import restriction fromEUcountrieswithadditional
import duty on Indian flowers
• Lack of domestic market for high priced cut flowers
With initial experiencegained fromimported technology,
many companies started promoting indigenous
technologies substituting the imported components of
poly houses and also standardizing technology of lowcost
poly houses and poly tunnels and shade nets, etc. Along
with technologies, the crops cultivated under poly house
got diversified with commercial cultivation of varieties
of flowers, vegetables, herbs, etc. The expansion of
protected cultivation further boosted by introduction of
capital subsidy under schemes of National Horticulture
Boards, National Horticulture Mission, Mission
Integrated Development of Horticulture, etc. The major
factors responsible for high growth under protected
cultivation are as under:
• Reduced cost of poly houses and viability of smaller
size poly houses
• Development of low cost poly houses and other
structures
• Growing domestic market for exotic vegetable and
cut flowers
• Attractive enterprise for new generation farmers
and entrepreneurs with high returns per unit area.
• Availability technical /skilled manpower for
construction and management of poly houses
• Capital subsidy schemes of GOI and State
Governments
There is no authentic data on the total area under
protected cultivation. However different sources
indicate that about 40000 ha is under commercial
protected cultivation. The major states having area
under protected cultivation and major crops/plants and
commercial use of protected cultivation are indicated
below:
Major States
Major crops/purpose
• Karnataka
• Tamilnadu
• Andhra Pradesh
• Kerala
• Telangana
• Maharashtra
• Gujarat
• Haryana
• Punjab
• Himachal Pradesh
• West Bengal
• Noth Eastern States
• Vegetables : Colored Capsicum, English
Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Tomato, Pole
beans, colured Cabbage, Bottle brijnal, brocoli
and other off season vegetables
• Flowers: Rose, Gerbera, Carnation, Tiger lilies,
Anthurium, Orchids
• Others: Lettuce, parsely, celery chives, Vanilla
• Fruits: Cantaloupe, Water Melon, Strawberry
• Nursery: Hybrid vegetable seedlings,
hardening of tissue culture plants, micro tubers
of potato. Exotic flowers nursery
4. Potential Growth Centers and
Clusters for Protected Cultivation
Protected cultivation is feasible in all regions of
the country. The southern states and some parts of
Maharashtra are suitable for naturally controlled
tubular poly houses, low cost poly houses with wooden
and Bamboo frames and other low structures like poly
tunnels and shade nets could be used during all the
seasons for cultivation of potentials crops/plants. The
protected cultivation in these regions has the advantages
less capital cost of growing structures.
