Does growing off-season crops in tunnels makes for a good business?

Byline: Mohammad Faran Bukhari

It's the first thing they teach you in economics class, demand and supply. The higher the demand for a product and the lower its supply, the higher its price and vice versa. Ask anything of the market and you shall receive, or to put it in more economic jargon, demand and you shall be supplied.

The agricultural sector is no exception. But what do you do about the little problem of there being a demand for seasonal produce in the wrong season? Sure, you can preserve, dry or can, but people want fresh summer fruit on their tables in the winter. Since the early 1960s, greenhouse structures have been evolving to meet this demand. One of the more recent innovations in this field have been tunnel greenhouses. These humble looking arches are a far-cry from the large, sci-fi transparent structures that one imagines when thinking of a greenhouse. Using simple sheets of polyethylene and hoop houses constructed of aluminium, steel tubing, or even the significantly cheaper lengths of PVC water pipes, farmers have managed to regulate climatic conditions and produce off-season vegetables that are high in demand, and which they can then sell at high prices in the market.

How is it done?

Cultivation in tunnel farms usually begins in autumn. A normal tunnel farm ranges from 10 to 20 acres with most farms needing a covered area of at least 3 acres to be economically feasible. Steel pipes, aluminium pipes or bamboos are used to create D shaped rows of support structures around the plantation that are usually 3 to 12 feet in height and about 5 feet wide. The structures are covered with polythene sheets to create either low tunnels, walk-in tunnels or high tunnels depending on the farmer's needs.

The polythene sheets traps heat inside and keep rain and frost outside, simulating summer and enabling the plants to be able to bear produce that would not be able to grow if exposed to the natural climate.

In Pakistan, especially in the fertile plains of Punjab, farmers are fast switching away from conventional farming and adopting tunnel farming techniques, which reportedly give a higher per acre yield and higher profits compared to conventional farming.

But how much does the yield and profits increase exactly and how feasible is tunnel farming in the country compared to other conventional farming methods? Profit went to the farmers taking this leap, to find out.

The farmers perspective and feasibility

'In Pakistan vegetables and fruits...