Nepal: Plastic tunnel farming takes off in Parbat

The practice of growing off-season vegetables using plastic tunnels has been gaining popularity in Parbat due to its higher productivity and income as compared to traditional practices of crops production outdoors.

Lal Bahadur Harijan, a farmer in Modi-5, Ambot has been earning Rs220,000 (2,100 USD) monthly by selling off-season vegetables grown in plastic tunnels. He has invested Rs1 million (9,500 USD) to prepare 10 tunnel farms on 15 ropanis of land. Harijan, who has been involved in vegetable production for five years decided to adopt high-tech tunnel farming techniques last October. In the first season, the new farming technique gave him three times better income compared to what he had been earning before. As a pilot project, he started vegetable cultivation on two tunnel farms. “The investment made in tunnel farming was recovered after the first season,” he said.

Another farmer Bhim Lal Poudel of Kushma-2, Khurkot has been cultivating vegetables in plastic tunnels since April. Poudel initially grew cucumber and took home Rs150,000 (1,400 USD). Then he started the cultivation of off-seasonal radish and beans and earned Rs60,000 (570 USD).

Read more at The Kathmandu Post (Agandhar Tiwari)