The mountainous terrain, a fragile environment, small and fragmented holdings, a complete lack of irrigation facilities and poor marketing infrastructure, among other factors, has hampered the growth of horticulture in Uttarakhand.
To overcome these odds, the state government has launched an ambitious project to set up cluster-based modern polyhouses – 20,000 of them by 2013-14 – in the hill state to boost the production of vegetables and flowers. A polyhouse is a protective shade made up of polythene, semi-circular or elongated in shape, and used for growing high-value agricultural products.
Under the chief minister’s Protected Cultivation Scheme, farmers will get 50 per cent Central subsidy under the Horticulture Technology Mission and the remainder of the amount will be available through loans from various banks for setting up polyhouses.
The polyhouses will range in size from 100 sq meters to 300 sq meters.
“This is an ambitious project of the chief minister for which we have already invited technical bids from various companies for providing poly-houses to farmers,” said horticulture secretary Vinod Fonia.
After the technical bids, the government will invite financial bids from these companies, Fonia said. In the first phase, the government has set a target of creating 4,000 polyhouses in the current financial year. The targets for 2011-12 and 2012-13 are 5,000 polyhouses each, rising to 6,000 in 2013-14.
However, Fonia added, “We are running behind our target of setting up 4,000 poly-houses this year. We may not be able to achieve this target due to some problems in vendor selection.”
So far, the state government has received about 700 applications from farmers. According to an official report, the state government has already identified 750 clusters in about 5,000 villages where it sees tremendous scope for the horticulture sector.
Through this project, the government is aiming to increase the productivity of cash crops by four to 10 times. The project will also provide support for capacity building among local youth and employ local artisans in the construction of polyhouses.
