Ajwain
Sow in October, harvest around March
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.
₹27,000–₹41,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹868–₹14,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Needs care: Frost risk in December
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 80 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 150 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 16–24 °C on average, and survives 10–30 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 25 °C / 14 °C
- Nov 21 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 19 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 24 °C / 12 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Ajwain: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.5–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 4.3 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).
On rain alone it gets about 71% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 71% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (March–April 2026): about ₹11,104 a quintal across India's mandis.
- ₹10,670 2021
- ₹9,130 2022
- ₹12,710 2023
- ₹11,780 2024
- ₹8,860 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹26,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.
Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.