Trellis Vegetable Farming- Fostering income and hope for smallholder farmers

Trellis-based vegetable production is a sustainable production system which leverages sunlight better, improves air circulation and facilitates multilayer cropping. Adopting this system, more than 10000 small and marginal farmers in several states in India have improved their food, nutritional and income security.

Majority of Indian farmers own small and fragmented landholdings, limiting their opportunities for increasing income from agriculture. According to the annual survey of marginal farmers, small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86% of all farmers in India, but own just about 47% of the crop area (10^th agriculture census). The small landowner farmers who grow staple crops actually earn low to negative returns. Given a choice, many farmers would rather take up another occupation (Radhakrishnan committee Report on agriculture indebtedness).  Limited cultivation season, depleting crop diversity, untimely and erratic rainfall, water scarcity, lack of awareness on improved cropping practices and high value cash crops and challenges of market access often result in low returns for small holder farmers. Low returns from agriculture usually lead to distress seasonal migration.

In this context, it is essential for small holder farmers to undertake diversified and high value crop cultivation and to enhance crop returns per unit area. This requires efficient use of both horizontal and vertical space, as well as sunlight. The natural resources like soil and water should also be managed sustainably.

The region where BAIF intervened in South Gujarat is characterised by hilly terrain and receives nearly 2700 mm rainfall. The soils are mostly red lateritic with nutrient and organic matter deficiency. Majority of the farmers belong to scheduled tribes. The average landholding is less than one hectare. Agriculture was mainly at subsistence level, with major crops cultivated being rice, finger millets and black gram. Cultivation was usually limited to the monsoon season only and the area under rice cultivation was increasing. After the harvest of the Kharif crop, majority of the farmers had to depend on seasonal migration for livelihoods.

To address these challenges, BAIF initiated Wadi (Agri.-Horti-Forestry) programme in South Gujarat, focussing primarily on integration of fruit and forestry trees into the farming system. In fact, the fruit and forestry trees serve as a sustainable and long term source of livelihoods source for the families. The tree species have a gestation before reaching peak returns. It was observed that farmers with very small landholding could not participate in the Wadi initiative. Thus, there was a need to improve incomes/ livelihoods of small and marginal landholdings families.

Taking advantage of demand from urban population, several high value cropping models in the form of floriculture and vegetable cultivation, were introduced on a pilot basis for addressing the challenges. While several different vegetable crops were introduced, the multilayer Trellis-based vegetable cultivation received greater acceptance from the community.

Features of the trellis based multilayer vegetable cultivation

• Certain common crops cultivated are Cucumber, Bitter Gourd, Bottle Gourd, Ridge Gourd, Snake Gourd, Beans, Peas and Pumpkin.
• Supports appropriate growth of climbers and vines and multilayer cropping.
• Helps utilize vertical space, making it ideal for small gardens or limited land.
• Leaves and fruits get uniform sunlight, enhancing photosynthesis.
• Leads to improved yield and fruit quality.
• Better air flow around plants reduces humidity and disease risk.
• Reduces certain pests
• Crops are at an accessible height, making them easier to harvest, prune or inspect.
• Produce fetches better market price due to clean produce.

The advantage of the trellis-based vegetable production system is that this method offers a sustainable way to improve food and nutritional security, generate income, and create alternative livelihoods for small and marginal farmers. The trellis system leverages sunlight better, improves air circulation and facilitates multilayer cropping.

Initially, the trellis-based vegetable cultivation system was introduced in Amboshi village in the year 2005. Some farmers used to cultivate vegetables in their backyards with limited management practices. Initially farmers were hesitant for adopting vegetable cultivation for commercial purpose. In order to boost their confidence, in the year 2003, exposure visits were organised to the farms of commercial vegetable growing farmers as well as to the demonstration farms of state Agriculture Universities.

Motivated by these visits, two farmers from Awadha village in Dharampur, Gujarat showed interest. They were provided support for piloting the cultivation of bitter gourd. These farmers were guided in the establishment of the trellis support system on 0.2 ha of land each. Seeds were provided and farmers were trained on cultivation practices. These farmers cultivated bitter gourd during the first season. During the initial cropping cycles, while optimum production could not be achieved, it could generate reasonably good earnings of around Rs. 35,000  which increased their confidence. Exposure visits for farmers of Amboshi village and adjoining villages were organized to the trellis-based vegetable cultivation field in Awadha village. Nearly 45 farmers joined the exposure visits in 2 batches. Some farmers were highly motivated as they observed that the returns were nearly twice their conventional crops. They showed keen interest in undertaking trellis based vegetable cultivation. During the next season, in 2004 the trellis based vegetable cultivation was piloted with 15 farmers and with 42 farmers during the subsequent years. However, certain initial challenges were observed for scaling-up the system. They are as follows.

• The production realized varied to a great extent from farmer to farmer. There was a need to standardize the package of practices.
• The initial cost for establishment of the trellis support system using durable cement poles and for inputs (around Rs. 22000/-) was significantly high and not within the reach of the small holder farmers. The need was to bring down the costs so as to make it affordable for several other farmers to adopt the model.
• There was a need to reduce the use of agro-chemicals recommended in the conventional cropping system.
• When vegetable production increased, adequate market linkages were needed.

The above challenges were discussed in detail with diverse stakeholders, experts and farmers jointly. The following strategies were adopted.

• In order to reduce the costs, bamboo poles were utilized instead of cement poles. This helped reduce the initial costs.
• Standard Operating Practices (SOP) were finalised. The SOPs involved appropriate size of the trellis support system, spacing between each pole of the system (5 m), height (5–7 feet above ground), material to be used (bamboo/ wood sticks/ cement poles/ galvanized iron pipes) for supporting the trellis system. Plastic-coated steel wires, nylon ropes, GI wires, or plastic mesh was used to create a support structure for the creepers and ensure trellis is stable against wind. Crop- based practices outlined in the SOPs included using seedlings aged 25–30 days, maintaining proper plant to plant spacing for bitter gourd (120cm × 45 cm). Other practices followed included Integrated Nutrient and Pest Management and harvesting at appropriate maturity stage.
• In order to reduce the use of agrochemicals, various organic and natural farming practices were integrated into the conventional crop cultivation practices. Emphasis was laid on recycling of the organic waste, production and use of compost as well as safe pest control measures including bio-pesticides, reducing dependence on purchased external inputs. The major sources of biomass for compost making included farm residues and forest litter collected from the adjoining areas.
• In order to reduce the costs of establishment of trellis system various alternatives were explored. During the earlier pilot phase, cement poles were introduced for establishment of the trellis system. This contributed significantly to the costs of the system, nearly 50% of the costs. Cement poles were replaced with bamboo poles. Also, it was observed that the bamboo poles were absorbing moisture and rotting in the region close to the soil. Later these poles were treated at the base before installation. This helped in improving the life of the bamboo poles. The quality of wires to be used were also finalized. These alternatives helped in reducing the initial cost of trellis establishment.

Popularising trellis-based vegetable cultivation

• BAIF mobilised partial support for several farmers enabling them to initiate the activity. Support was provided to vulnerable and needy families. After the initial support they were expected to continue the activities by themselves.
• Other farmers interested in adopting trellis-based vegetable cultivation were mobilized to form pairs or small groups usually with adjacent farmers. These farmers/ groups of farmers raised the investment through contributions for initiating trellis based farming in groups. As they generated reasonable savings after a few cropping cycles, they started cultivating vegetables independently.

Overcoming challenges

Initially, as the number of farmers involved in the cultivation of vegetables was less, selling of the produce in the local area was not difficult. However, as the number of farmers cultivating the vegetable crops increased, there was a need to tap external markets to ensure farmers receive appropriate price for their produce. Market linkages were necessary. Majority of the farmers involved in vegetable cultivation were members of the farmer producer organizations/ cooperatives. These cooperatives were primarily involved in aggregation and processing of fruits like mango and cashew produced in their Wadis. These cooperatives intervened into strengthening the value chain for vegetable crops and other farm produce. Further, they introduced the supply of fertilizers, seeds, etc., thereby ensuring timely availability and access to good quality inputs at a reasonable price.

Another challenge faced by the farmers was to transport the produce nearly twice or thrice a week to external markets. This was financially demanding as well as labour intensive for the small holder farmers. The cooperatives also conducted trader meets to address these challenges. As the volume of the produce increased the traders organized transport and pick-up facilities from the farms thereby allowing the farmers to focus on the farm-based activities.

Upscaling

Owing to the appreciating returns fetched from small land holding, very soon trellis based vegetable cultivation was widely adopted by hundreds of farmers in the adjoining villages. Diversity in the types of vegetables cultivated was introduced with emphasis on sturdy crops and varieties. Multitier crop cultivation involving vegetables, fruits and forestry plants was introduced to enable farmers harvest multiple crops from their small land parcels. Scouting for pests was introduced through light and sticky traps. Safe measures for prevention and management of pests were introduced. Organic matter recycling, soil improvement and moisture conservation practices were promoted for boosting sustainability.

This approach has been scaled-up in various other regions of the country since 2014. Through BAIFs initiatives, trellis vegetable cultivation has been adopted by 11,700 farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Telangana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the year 2024-25. The trellis system has been adapted to the local conditions and market demands in other geographies. The practicing farmers have realized significant farm returns (See Box 1,p.14) and also access to diverse and rich nutritional sources. Thus, trellis-based vegetable cultivation is an important strategy to address the challenges faced by small holder farmers.

Yogesh Sawant
Chief Thematic Programme Executive (Farm Based Livelihoods and Climate Action)
BAIF Development Research Foundation
BAIF Bhavan, Dr. Manibhai Desai Nagar Warje, Pune – 411058
E-mail: ygsawant@baif.org.in