Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse - Sikar, Rajasthan

Located in Sikar, Rajasthan, this 8,000 sqm Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse is a soil-based bell pepper growing facility with 24,000 plants, commissioned ahead of the 2024 monsoon to give a heat-sensitive crop a stable footing through the fiercest part of the Shekhawati year.

Sikar sits in north-eastern Rajasthan's Shekhawati region at around 435 metres above sea level, with a subtropical steppe climate. Its summers are the defining challenge: from April into June, temperatures average around 30°C but climb toward 50°C at their peak, under near-cloudless skies with humidity falling to roughly 21% and almost no rain before the monsoon breaks in July. Hot, dust-laden winds sweep the sandy plains through this stretch. Winters swing to the opposite extreme, with January nights dropping close to and below freezing, but it is the long, blistering pre-monsoon summer that most defines the open-field grower's problem here.

For bell pepper, high heat is the direct threat to yield. The crop sets fruit only within a fairly narrow temperature band, and once daytime temperatures push past the mid-30s°C, pollen viability falls away and flowers drop before they can set — so through a Sikar summer, an open-field crop can flower heavily and still fruit poorly. The region's very dry air compounds it, driving heavy transpiration and water stress in a district where irrigation water is limited, while abrasive winds physically stress and damage exposed plants.

The Structure

An 8,000 sqm Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse was installed to bring that summer under control. The structure's shade and diffused light cut the intensity of the radiation reaching the canopy, while ventilation aligned to the prevailing wind draws heat continuously out of the structure so it doesn't accumulate around the crop during the hottest hours — holding conditions closer to the band where bell pepper will actually set fruit. Just as importantly in this climate, the enclosed canopy moderates the extreme dryness: it steadies humidity around the plants, easing transpiration demand and cutting the irrigation load, and it shields the crop from the dust and dry winds that batter it in the open.

The same envelope carries the crop through the cold end of the year as well, holding it above the frost threshold on freezing winter nights — so between the two seasons, the structure converts a calendar of narrow, weather-limited windows into a long, continuous production cycle for all 24,000 plants.

The crop is grown in ground soil, with the polyhouse managing the heat, humidity, and wind above it — keeping established local soil agronomy intact while removing the extremes that leave open-field bell pepper unviable for much of the Sikar year.

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.