In Ladakh’s cold desert, sisterhood and polyhouses thrive
The use of polyhouses to grow vegetables has made the diets of women in the Kesar village more nutritionally secure
March 8, 2026
In Ladakh’s Changthang Plateau, silence hangs heavy in the air. Winter temperatures plummet to –30°C, making even survival challenging, and farming near impossible. In many villages, women are left alone to battle these conditions, since men are drawn away to cities in search of employment.
The wheat, barley, and potatoes they grow during the warmer period from May to September have to last through the year. In the past, any other vegetables they opted for were expensive, since they had to be bought from Leh and could only be accessed by taking a weekly bus to the city. This resulted in a very precarious diet—one that was sparse even in the best of times, and vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather at its worst.
In 2023, the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology–Jammu introduced polyhouses—an advanced form of greenhouses—to the Kesar village, which is home to all of 17 women. The polyhouses allow them to grow vegetables irrespective of how cold it is outside, and have transformed their lives in more ways than one.
–Text by Durga Sreenivasan
Polyhouse farming has enabled women to grow their own produce and nourish themselves in the cold desert.
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