In this Tech-World, Farmers don’t depend on Climate!

In this Tech-World, Farmers don’t depend on Climate: The love for veggies have always been constant, especially if you are a vegan, but then you can also feel the pinch in the pocket when you go to buy them in the market. From harvesting to selling in the market, there is a huge inter-changeable process in it of the harvested vegetables. Till it reaches to your plate, you have already paid a huge profit to the middleman.

But some desperately looking for a solution got the key to change with polyhouse farming, the new farming system with technology. Polyhouse farming was boon for every farmer as it could be set up even on a small land and moreover, government provided subsidy as well. Amarnath Phulekar from Islampur village in Bidar district has tasted success by growing vegetables in a polyhouse built on a one-acre plot outside his house. Mr Phulekar sells the red and yellow capsicum that he grows in this unit, in a potent market nearby in Pune.

The polyhouse is drip irrigated and has foggers to maintain steady temperature in summer. Fertilizer and insecticides are mostly fed through the drip irrigation channels. The one-acre farm has a team of eight labourers working in two shifts, irrigating the beds, strengthening the plants with sticks and wires and checking for signs of pest or insect attack. “Vegetables in a polyhouse are like babies in intensive care units. They need constant care,” says Mr Phulekar.

A project was implemented in Shanthanahalli village, Tiptur Taluk, of Tumkur district in Karnataka, which is about 150 kms from Bangalore. The women from Self Help Group (SHG) is involved in growing high value vegetables such as tomatoes and capsicum under the polyhouse farming and supplying these vegetables to the mid-day meal scheme of the school at a subsidized rate. The group and its deeds are also recognized by the National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India.

While youth are going from villages to cities in search of livelihood, Vishaal of Adegama village returned to the grassroots dropping out of the technical education course. Vishaal met farmers there and was attracted at their minimalist approach to agriculture – putting small space to maximum use and thereby earning profits. He then consulted his cousin Ramchander of Chincholi and the duo decided to become farmers. Earlier, Vishaal appraised himself about incentives and other benefits being extended to farmers cultivating under polyhouse conditions by the Department of Horticulture, Government of Telangana.

Realising that construction of Polyhouse has been highly subsidised in Telangana and the subsidy being 75%, which is the highest in the country, the duo placed an application with the horticulture department for the same. They have taken up cultivation of cucumber under Polyhouse conditions in their villages.

The returns of polyhouse farming enables to grow throughout the year, irrespective of season and also the produce ensures better quality than the open-field cultivation.