Back to solutions
1 Jan 2020 | NEPCAT technologies

A low-cost polyhouse for tomato production in the rainy season

1 min Read

70% Complete

Smallholder farmers can use polyhouses to produce high demand vegetables, such as tomatoes, and can earn a substantial income from even a relatively small plot of land in a short time.

During the wet season (June–October), the monsoon rains severely limit the type of crops that can be grown in open fields and they also restrict the production of seedlings. Low-cost polyhouses can be used to protect crops from excessive rainfall and can provide a sheltered environment for the production of better quality crops over the rainy season cropping period. For example, smallholder farmers who produce high demand vegetables such as tomatoes can earn as much as USD 350–500 from a plot of land which measures only 100 m2 in area over the short time period from June to November. This is much more than they can earn by growing any traditional crop by conventional methods. The Sustainable Soil Management Programme (SSMP) is promoting this technology in several mid-hill districts of Nepal.

Nepal mid-hills


WOCAT database reference: QT NEP 31

Location: Nepal mid-hills

Technology area: Sustainable Soil Management Programme (SSMP) implements its programmes in several mid-hill districts of Nepal. The map above shows districts where they have worked in the past (dark green) and where they worked in 2011 (light green).

Conservation measure(s): Agronomic

Land Use: Annual cropping (rainfed)

Stage of intervention: Prevention of land degradation

Origin: Introduced through projects

Climate: Humid/subtropical

Related approach: Farmer-to-farmer diffusion (QA NEP 1) and Farmer-led experimentation (QA NEP 3)

Compiled by: Bishnu Kumar Bishwakarma, SSMP and Helvetas Nepal

Date: April 2011, updated March 2013

Download PDF

1 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Cultivation of fodder and grasses

Cultivation of fodder crops on marginal lands and terrace risers Fodder plays a major role in the crop-livestock-manure-soil nutrient cycle on ...

1 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Hedgerow technology

A technology that uses hedgerows to help establish terraces on sloping land; farmers learn improved methods to manage a cultivation ...

1 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Better quality farmyard manure through improved decomposition

Collection and proper storage of farmyard manure in heaps or pits Farmyard manure – a varying mixture of animal manure, urine, ...

2 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Rehabilitation of degraded communal grazing land

Rehabilitation measures, including eyebrow pits and live fencing, were implemented on degraded communal grazing land to reestablish a protective vegetative ...

1 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Biodynamic composting

A faster and more effective way to produce high quality compost in large quantities by surface composting using dry and ...

2 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Treadle pump

A treadle pump is a foot operated water lifting device that can be used by smallholder farmers to irrigate their ...

2 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Traditional irrigated rice terraces

Level bench terraces with risers protected by fodder grasses, used for the irrigated production of rice, potatoes and wheat The level ...

2 Jan 2020 NEPCAT technologies
Riverbed farming

Riverbed farming can be used to increase household income and to improve the food security of landless and land-poor households ...