<p>The greenhouse rental service is becoming increasingly popular among Haryana farmers, who are growing 6 million seedlings annually by paying a nominal fee to an Indo-Israel vegetable centre at Gharaunda near Karnal.<br /><br />The centre, set up in 2011, has a greenhouse facility in half-acre and charges Rs 1-2 per sapling from farmers. It is a structure where seedling/plants are grown <br />under climate controlled environment.<br /><br />The Indo-Israel Centre for Excellence in Vegetable offers Israeli expertise in greenhouse, drip irrigation and fertigation methods to raise vegetable yields in its regular workshops to farmers and local experts.<br /><br />“After learning from workshops, farmers have started adopting these technologies in a big way. They are growing seedlings using our greenhouse facility since 2011,” said Satyender Yadav, Deputy Director (Horticulture) at the centre.<br /><br />Farmers are growing about 6 million vegetable seedlings annually now, as against half a million seedlings way back in 2011, he said adding farmers from Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are also using the facility.<br /><br />The Centre charges a nominal fee from farmers for maintaining saplings in the greenhouse facility. It charges one rupee from farmers who get their own seeds, while Rs 2 per sapling if they take seeds from the centre, he added.<br /><br />Farmers are growing seedlings of different kinds of vegetables like chilli, tomato, capsicum, cabbage, broccoli among others. They take seedlings from greenhouse later for transplanting in their fields.<br /><br />Asked if farmers have set up their own greenhouse after learning its benefits from the Centre, Yadav said, “It is very expensive to set up a greenhouse. It is much cheaper to grow seedlings in the greenhouse space offered by the <br />centre.”</p>.<p><br />Not farmers but some entrepreneurs in Haryana and Punjab have shown interest to set up a greenhouse structure, which costs around Rs 80 lakh to set up one facility in a half-acre piece of land, he added.<br /><br />The Gharaunda centre of excellence in vegetables has been set up as part of the Indo-Israeli Agriculture Project. So far under the project, 15 centres in vegetables and fruits have been established in nine states out of the proposed 26.<br /><br />“We will set up the remaining centres in the third phase of the project 2015-18. We will also focus on modern dairy management, post harvesting and sewage water treatment for reuse in agriculture,” said Dan Allof, Counsellor at MASHAV (Israeli’s agency for international development cooperation).<br />He said more than 20,000 farmers visit the centres every year to get the training in modern farm technologies. </p>
<p>The greenhouse rental service is becoming increasingly popular among Haryana farmers, who are growing 6 million seedlings annually by paying a nominal fee to an Indo-Israel vegetable centre at Gharaunda near Karnal.<br /><br />The centre, set up in 2011, has a greenhouse facility in half-acre and charges Rs 1-2 per sapling from farmers. It is a structure where seedling/plants are grown <br />under climate controlled environment.<br /><br />The Indo-Israel Centre for Excellence in Vegetable offers Israeli expertise in greenhouse, drip irrigation and fertigation methods to raise vegetable yields in its regular workshops to farmers and local experts.<br /><br />“After learning from workshops, farmers have started adopting these technologies in a big way. They are growing seedlings using our greenhouse facility since 2011,” said Satyender Yadav, Deputy Director (Horticulture) at the centre.<br /><br />Farmers are growing about 6 million vegetable seedlings annually now, as against half a million seedlings way back in 2011, he said adding farmers from Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are also using the facility.<br /><br />The Centre charges a nominal fee from farmers for maintaining saplings in the greenhouse facility. It charges one rupee from farmers who get their own seeds, while Rs 2 per sapling if they take seeds from the centre, he added.<br /><br />Farmers are growing seedlings of different kinds of vegetables like chilli, tomato, capsicum, cabbage, broccoli among others. They take seedlings from greenhouse later for transplanting in their fields.<br /><br />Asked if farmers have set up their own greenhouse after learning its benefits from the Centre, Yadav said, “It is very expensive to set up a greenhouse. It is much cheaper to grow seedlings in the greenhouse space offered by the <br />centre.”</p>.<p><br />Not farmers but some entrepreneurs in Haryana and Punjab have shown interest to set up a greenhouse structure, which costs around Rs 80 lakh to set up one facility in a half-acre piece of land, he added.<br /><br />The Gharaunda centre of excellence in vegetables has been set up as part of the Indo-Israeli Agriculture Project. So far under the project, 15 centres in vegetables and fruits have been established in nine states out of the proposed 26.<br /><br />“We will set up the remaining centres in the third phase of the project 2015-18. We will also focus on modern dairy management, post harvesting and sewage water treatment for reuse in agriculture,” said Dan Allof, Counsellor at MASHAV (Israeli’s agency for international development cooperation).<br />He said more than 20,000 farmers visit the centres every year to get the training in modern farm technologies. </p>