Located in Sikar, Rajasthan, this 8,000 sqm Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse is a soil-based bell pepper growing facility with 24,000 plants, built for one of the most extreme temperature environments in which the crop is commercially grown in India.
Sikar sits in the Shekhawati region of north-eastern Rajasthan at around 435 metres above sea level, with a subtropical steppe climate - semi-arid, and defined less by any single condition than by the sheer distance between its extremes. Summers are hot and punishing, averaging around 30°C but climbing as high as 50°C, with almost no rain until the monsoon arrives. Winters run the opposite way: average temperatures around 10°C, with nights dropping as low as −3°C. Sikar is among the Rajasthan districts that regularly record sub-zero minimums in January, when cold western winds sweep the sandy plains. Annual rainfall is roughly 452 mm, concentrated almost entirely in July and August, and the air is exceptionally dry for much of the year - relative humidity bottoms out around 21% in April.
For bell peppers, this is a difficult set of conditions from both directions. The crop needs stable temperatures through flowering and fruit set; above roughly 35°C, pollen viability collapses and flowers drop, which rules out much of the Sikar summer in the open field. At the other end, bell pepper has no frost tolerance at all - a single night near zero will damage or kill an exposed crop, closing off the cool months that would otherwise be the region's best growing window. Add very low humidity driving high transpiration demand, and dry, dust-laden winds that abrade foliage and stress plants, and open-field cultivation is left with only narrow, unreliable windows in either shoulder season.
The Structure
An 8,000 sqm Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse was installed to close that gap at both ends of the year. Through the summer, the structure provides shade and diffused light that take the edge off extreme radiation, while ventilation aligned to the prevailing wind moves heat continuously out of the canopy rather than letting it build. Through the winter, the same envelope works in reverse - trapping daytime warmth and holding the crop above the frost threshold on the coldest nights, which is what converts Rajasthan's cool season from a risk into the most productive stretch of the year.
The structure also does something less obvious but equally valuable in this climate: it holds humidity. In air that can sit at 20% relative humidity, an enclosed canopy moderates transpiration demand, easing water stress on the plant and reducing irrigation load in a region where water is not abundant. It shields the crop from dust and abrasive dry winds at the same time.
The crop is grown in ground soil, with the polyhouse managing the environment above it. That keeps established local soil agronomy intact while removing the weather extremes the open field cannot defend against - allowing 24,000 bell pepper plants to run a long, continuous production cycle in a place where the open-field crop is limited to brief seasonal windows.
About Agriplast
Agriplast Protected Cultivation Pvt. Ltd. (APPC) is the largest manufacturer and supplier of polyhouses, net houses, and other greenhouse structures. Agriplast designed, supplied, and installed this Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse in Sikar, Rajasthan. Beyond the structure itself, the company provides end-to-end turnkey delivery alongside agronomy support, crop advisory, and government-subsidy guidance, helping growers move to protected cultivation and grow higher-value crops with more efficient use of land, water, and inputs.
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