Polyhouse cost for 1 acre in India, Polyhouse Construction, temperature maintenance inside polyhouse
India is the fourth largest agriculture-dependent country. This holds almost 16 to 20% of Indian GDP.
But still, the condition of small and average farmers is not so satisfying. They are not earning much profit. Agriculture is the only sector where the percentage of profit is lowest in last 40 years in all the working sectors in India.
Polyhouse farming is an ecofriendly and most important modern factor of farming. It is best known for use in opposite weather and climate condition.
In this article, you are going to get the information about polyhouse farming and way of practicing it with some helpful key points to resolve some problems of farmers.
Polyhouse cost for one acre in India
If you already have land of one acre, then the main cost of polyhouse depends on the platform material, irrigation arrangements, exhaust, fertilizers, seeds and some equipments.
The government provides a subsidy to farmers (around 40 to 50%), But first, you have to invest in polyhouse by your pocket and then you will get your subsidy in the next six months.
Suppose you are making 4046 square meter/1 acre land polyhouse with a measurement of 100x40 square meter then you will have the following cost-
1. Frame and covering sheet
Cost- 460000 INR to 500000 INR
2. Water supply system
cost- 20000 INR
3. Temperature maintenance system cost- 30000 INR
4. Labour cost- 50000 INR
Total cost - 600000 INR
Understand Polyhouse Farming
Polyhouse farming is one of those few methods which are most helpful to grow off-season crops; winter crops in summer and summer's crops in winter.
Polyhouse farming is the modern method of crop cultivation with high yield and profit.
Some of the crops polyhouse use in Mixed cropping.
In this it is understood that polyhouse is a frame, which is covered by sunlight friendly plastic or special kind of sheet, the inside portion is for crops cultivation.
With the help of limited resources, polyhouse farming is the most profitable and business-purpose type of farming.
you can also read about agriculture festival Odisha- Nuakhai Juhar 2022.
Major parts of polyhouse construction
- Beds for seeds
For getting a better high quality of the plant, we use beds for seeds. These beds separate every single plant and give a quality plant. This bed is a platform of fertilized soil with necessary humidity.
- Water supply(irrigation)
Irrigation is the most fundamental of polyhouse farming which is responsible for better growth and quality output(profitable).
Irrigation water must-have minerals, cleanness, and an impurity-free index.
This system is fixed such that if it is necessary then it can provide even showering to all plants.
- Fertilizers
Fertilizers can be used by mixing with water directly. These must not have in over or lesser for plants.
- Temperature and humidity management
The temperature of polyhouse depends on the crops used inside polyhouse. If you taking summer crops in winter then you have to manage the temperature as same as summer and if you using winter crops in summer then vice versa.
For this purpose, exhaust fans are used.
To maintain the humidity, water showering is important inside polyhouse. Some people use the water source on the roof but some use it on walls.
Ultimately water showering maintains the humidity inside polyhouse.
Polyhouse construction
First, you need to select an area on which you want to make a polyhouse. In starting, people used bamboo to make the frame structure of polyhouse, but nowadays, people use metal rods to make it.
The frame is like the picture below-
Next, use a plastic sheet or a Tarpaulin to cover this structure or frame, which is easily available in the market at cheaper costs. This sheet is going to cover the platform totally and form curved walls around this. It always has a poly sheet door which is for the comfort of working inside and outside the polyhouse.
Temperature required for various plants
- To grow mushrooms you have to maintain the temperature at approx 25 degrees Celsius.
- To grow cucumber, the temperature should be 15 to 23 degrees Celsius.
- Broccoli needs 13 to 21 degrees Celsius of temperature.
- Tomato needs almost 15 to 30 degree Celsius
- Pumpkin grows between temperate 9f 22 to 28 degrees Celsius.
- Potato needs to temperate from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius.
- Chilies grow at an average temperature of 18 to 22 degrees Celsius.
- Cauliflower vegetables grow in temperate of 17 to 22 degrees Celsius.
- Spinach needs temperature between 10 to 22 degrees Celsius.
- Gourd grows in temperatures of 18 to 25 degrees Celsius.
- Bitter gourd takes 18 to 26 degrees Celsius temperature to grow.
- Beans take 24 to 26 degrees Celsius temperature.
How to maintain temperature inside polyhouse
It is quite tough to do mixed farming in the same polyhouse because of their requirement of different temperature. The only best way to get the best results is to grow the same plants(or those who have demands same temperature) in the same polyhouse.
To maintain the temperature of the polyhouse , you need to maintain the humidity inside polyhouse. For that, you can use water showering methods. Sometimes in rainy seasons polyhouse not need very much maintenance because of ideal humidity. To provide sunlight or light, you can use some high-voltage electricity bulbs to maintain the temperature at night in winters.
It demands a regular checking of temperature on the daily basis. For this most people use electronic equipments like thermometer.
Advantages of polyhouse farming
- Polyhouse farming takes one-time investment, after that it remains automatically maintained for at least a season of the crop.
- Polyhouse cultivation can be done on small scale as a personal farm.
- Polyhouse provides an atmosphere even for off-season crops.
- Polyhouse is an organic method to grow plants, which provide the best organic output.
- It is best for food crops and flower crops too.
Disadvantages of polyhouse farming
- It takes time and maintenance to recover from a problem in polyhouse.
- After your very first crop production, the soil needs to be fertilized and maintain the moisture, otherwise, your production may be decreased.
- Polyhouse is not used for traditional crops like wheat, rice, and few other crops to date in India.
- If a plant is not growing in required temperature then it may be loss of all plants of same crops.
Polyhouse farming in India
India is an agriculture-dependent country, where more than 16 million farmers and their families. They usually rely on the traditional way of seasonal crop cultivation. Modern ways of farming and non-food cash crops are not so popular in India but still, there are people who practice such things. The ratio of traditional farming and modern farming in India is very different.
Polyhouse farming is still of scope of popularity. Rural people are not mostly aware of polyhouse farming. Actually, they are not interested in polyhouse farming just because of following reasons-
- Polyhouse cultivation demands total dedication for a long time.
- It becomes less productive after two to three times.
- It requires a particular kind of knowledge.
- It is costly by all means.
The government is providing a subsidy on polyhouse farming which is almost 50%, but still farmers are not coming ahead to practice such cultivation. Actually, they are not supposed to take any risk.
The thing is that seasonal crops are not so beneficial for small and average farmers, which is why they necessarily need to adapt to a new way of farming that is profitable (almost double) if everything goes right.
Difference between polyhouse and greenhouse
The fundamental difference between polyhouse and greenhouse is the material of the covering structure.
In polyhouse where the structure is made of poly sheets, in greenhouse farming, the glass covers use to make the structure.
Greenhouse demand requirement of more investment than polyhouse. It almost cost double just because of the glass sheets and highly skillful designer to install it.
The greenhouse requires high safety. A small mistake with the structure can be a big loss.
In a comparison of polyhouse, greenhouse last long time after one-time installation. It never demands to reinstall or change in glass sheets until broken. It only demands to be clean several times.
Polyhouse is a functional type of greenhouse that works on the same principle.
Types of polyhouse
Polyhouse has several dimensional models for different crops. Structure wise all are similar but different in scale and type of crop.
Polyhouse for non-food crops
Non-food crops which are profitable because of high demand and low production in the market can be grown inside the polyhouse without any problem.
These crops are lily, rose, marigold, aloe vera, etc.
This type of polyhouse works on a unique framework, in which a particular flower plant grows in a periodic frame of fertilized soil pot with many other plants for a time.
Then after each plant get a separate place. These plants require time to time checkup in temperature, fertilizers, and pesticides(not necessary). Irrigation of these plants can be easily done by showing time to time.
After getting full growth in 3 months, they become ready to go to the market.
Polyhouse for vegetables and fruits
In such polyhouse, soil beds are the most necessary thing to grow vegetables and fruits from seeds.
In this polyhouse, cup frames use, that fill with soil and works particularly to give the seeds all required elements.
After getting small growth, these plants get separated from the cups and plant in bigger pots.
For vines vegetables and fruits like gourd and grapes respectively, a platform of metal or wooden pipe use. This platform gets reverse U shape towards the ground and fixed in the soil or on some sort of base.
This shape connects with the same other shapes like an open cage. The height of these metal(suppose) shapes depends according to the area.
Another way of farming inside polyhouse is soil beds in hedges. This is the best method to grow strawberries. These soil beds look like three-dimensional prism and covered with polythene to hold the moisture. This polythene has some holes, from where the strawberry plants get growth.