Agri Experts Advice To Adopt Tunnel Farming

The agriculture experts advised the growers to adopt tunnel technology to cultivate off-season vegetables as tunnel farming will help save the crop from pest attack and harsh weather conditions

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Nov, 2021 ) :The agriculture experts advised the growers to adopt tunnel technology to cultivate off-season vegetables as tunnel farming will help save the crop from pest attack and harsh weather conditions..

A spokesman of agriculture department said here on Monday that tunnel technology was a cheaper type of greenhouse in which the number of per acre plants was more than the number of plants of the crops grown outside.

He said that cucumber, pumpkin, gourd, bitter gourd, Tenda, green chilli, tomato, strawberry, okra, melon, watermelon, nursery of many ornamental plants and crops like cotton and sweet corn can be grown in tunnels and their cultivation in tunnel has proved more successful than their farming in open areas.

He explained that in Punjab non-seasonal vegetables were grown in three types of plastic tunnels including high tunnels, medium tunnels and small tunnels. High tunnels were made from bamboo or iron angle or galvanized pipes from east to west. Bamboo tunnels were useful for 3 to 4 years, while iron or zinc pipe tunnel was useful for 15 to 18 years.

He added that length of high tunnel was 200 feet, width was 30 to 34 feet and height was 10 feet from the sides but 13 feet in the middle. Depending on the structure, its height can be up to 4 meters and vegetables can be grown in 8 rows.

He said that medium tunnel was 5 to 6 feet high,12 to 15 feet wide while it can hold 3 or 4 rows. He said that pipe bows are made 6 feet high and 12 feet wide.Similarly, the small tunnels comprised of only one row of plants and it was 3 meters long and 5 mm thick iron rod.

He said that red beetle (Lal Bhoonki), fruit flies, red lice were the most common insects that can attack the crops of gourds, pumpkins, melons, watermelons, bitter gourds, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, okra, cucumbers and okra. These insects were not only suck juice from the leaves but also make webs there for their breeding. Therefore, the farmers should take appropriate preventive measures to control attack of these pests.

In this connection, the growers should also use pesticides recommended by the agriculture experts for chemical control of pests, he advised.