Protected cultivation of vegetable crops under temperate conditions

Abstract

India has a wide range of diverse agro-climatic conditions, but vegetable cultivation has generally been restricted to regional and seasonal needs. Although the production has increased to a level of 113.5 million tonnes from an area of 7.2 million hectares, still the technology used and practices followed are predominantly traditional, resulting in low productivity and inconsistent quality and quantity of produce. In the upper reaches of Himalayas, cold desert conditions prevail where the temperature is extremely low (-5 to -300C ) during winter season and most of the regions remain cut off from the rest of the country from November to March due to heavy snowfall. Due to this reason, people in these areas experience acute shortage of vegetables in winters. Sometimes in winter, vegetables are transported by air in Srinagar and Ladakh and the cost of these vegetables is beyond the reach of common man. Therefore self-sustenance is a need for these regions. To overcome these problems, Protected Cultivation offers a great potential. Protected cultivation enables us to grow vegetables in the off-season and also to extend the vegetable growing seasons for a much longer period than is possible under open field conditions. Vegetables are available earlier than usual and some can be grown well even during frosts. Though certain breakthroughs in vegetable cultivation in adverse climates using protected devices have been registered, more extensive research and generation of awareness are required to tap potential of Protected Cultivation of vegetable crops and also increase the area under protected devices.