Anantapur: Polyhouse farming yet to gather pace

Anantapur: The 'herd mentality' among the farmers replicating everything they see in all aspects of cultivation is resulting in financial losses and landing them in soup. This is reflected in every crop be it tomato, watermelon, cucumber, nurseries, musk melon or capsicum etc. This nature of mass copying in crop cultivation is a wrong concept landing the farmer in hotwaters resulting in over-production and prices crashing.

Andhra Pradesh government policy to promote poly and shade net houses with the express aim of ensuring quality horticulture products which are export worthy, has not yielded the desire results, the decade long experiments suggested.

Polynet nurseries establishment is a concept encouraged by government since a decade to promote nurseries that have export potential. But the farmers started incurring losses after they unscientifically started raising the crop plants of their choice which have only local market. So, the concept has been mismatched and used for raising plant nurseries of their choice.

The department of horticulture extending huge subsidies but failed to advise on the crops that are export worthy. Some farmers embarked on the nurseries project just to benefit from subsidies. So, the result is nurseries established in hundreds are now reduced to tens.

For example, some farmers out of ignorance adopted poly and shade net farming for vegetables which is not required. For English vegetables like capsicum which is in great demand out of state and out of country, is being cultivated in the district. Many farmers saw a promise in capsicum and had gone for it raising them in poly houses. Some farmers, who had invested big in the farming incurred losses due to unscientific market strategies making them vulnerable to exploitation by market forces. The government which is promoting the concept of polyhouses, has failed to render marketing advise especially to farmers, who are raising exportable products. Vijay, an educated farmer of Garladinne mandal, told The Hans India that the government's marketing intervention is a must if farmers have to succeed in high profile farm products. He said that several farmers, who were misled, have shut down their ventures and landed in indebtedness. Horticulture AD Chandrasekhar told The Hans India that some farmers incurred losses due to poor marketing practices and unscientific adoption of polyhouses concept based on herd mentality. If one farm earns huge income on tomatoes, hundreds of farmers resort to same cultivation throwing to wind sound economic principles, he says.