Government has been promoting the use of Agro Textile products since the 8th Plan. Under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), protected cultivation is one of the components under which the agro textiles/plastics are being promoted for Green House, Shade Net House, Plastic Tunnels and Plastic Mulching.

The budgetary allocation made during 2011-12 for protected cultivation under NHM is Rs. 155.99 crore.

There is no proposal to introduce new programmes under these components of NHM.

This was stated by Smt. Panabakka Lakshmi, Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.