While greenhouses have existed for more than one and a half centuries in various parts of the world, in India use of greenhouse technology started only during 1980’s and it was mainly used for research activities. This may be because of our emphasis, so far had been on achieving self-sufficiency in food grain production. However, in recent years in view of the globalization of international market and tremendous boost and fillip that is being given for export of agricultural produce, there has been a spurt in the demand for greenhouse technology. The National Committee on the use of Plastics in Agriculture (NCPA-1982) has recommended location specific trials of greenhouse technology for adoption in various regions of the country.

Greenhouses are being built in the Ladakh region for extending the growing season of vegetables from 3 to 8 months. In the North-East, greenhouses are being constructed essentially as rain shelters to permit off-season vegetable production. In the Northern plains, seedlings of vegetables and flowers are being raised in the greenhouses either for capturing the early markets or to improve the quality of the seedlings. Propagation of difficult-to-root tree species has also been found to be very encouraging. Several commercial floriculture ventures are coming up in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states to meet the demands of both domestic and export markets.

The commercial utilization of greenhouses started from 1988 onwards and now with the introduction of Government’s liberalization policies and developmental initiatives, several corporate houses have entered to set up 100% export oriented units. In just four years, since implementation of the new policies in 1991, 103 projects with foreign investment of more than Rs.80 crores have been approved to be set up in the country at an estimated cost of more than Rs.1000 crores around Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi. Thus the area under climatically controlled greenhouses of these projects is estimated to be around 300 ha. Out of which many have already commenced exports and have received very encouraging results in terms of the acceptance of the quality in major markets abroad and the price obtained.