Arecanut

Planted once, harvested year after year.

Check it on your land
Season
Whole year
100% of its area.
Water
1,470–1,650 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
16–33 °C
0 °C survives 7–39 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Planted once, usually at the start of the rains. It stays for years: the first real harvest comes after about 6 years, then one every year.

Will it grow on your land?

Mirzapur Uttar Pradesh
Water
Season

Won't work: too dry without irrigation

Arecanut

Holds the land all year

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on

  • Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Needs care: Soil 6/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.

Needs about 1,700 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 490 mm it can use in a normal year, and 350 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 16–33 °C on average, and survives 7–39 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

  • Jun 39 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jul 34 °C / 27 °C
  • Aug 33 °C / 27 °C
  • Sep 33 °C / 26 °C
  • Oct 33 °C / 22 °C
  • Nov 30 °C / 15 °C
  • Dec 25 °C / 10 °C
  • Jan 22 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
  • Feb 28 °C / 13 °C
  • Mar 34 °C / 18 °C
  • Apr 40 °C / 23 °C
  • May 42 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jun 39 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Arecanut: 6 out of 10 (okay).

  • Soil here is often too alkaline for it.
  • Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
  • Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
  • Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 5.5–6.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 5.6 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 6 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.

Mandi price at this season's harvest so far (October–November 2026): about ₹35,513 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹26,571 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 11 Nov).

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹37,280 2021
  2. ₹40,000 2022
  3. ₹35,750 2023
  4. ₹29,400 2024
  5. ₹31,150 2025

Prices are usually best in August.

Typical costs are about ₹5.9 lakh 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

  • 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.

  • Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.

    Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.

    Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

  • Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.

    Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.

    Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

See every crop that suits Mirzapur

What it needs

Temperature

16–33 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 7–39 °C.

Water

1,470–1,650 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Shivamogga Dakshina Kannada Chikkamagaluru Davanagere Tumakuru

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 6.8.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • K Needs plenty of potassium
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a year, once it bears

₹90,800

Yield India's average
5.6 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price this season so far (Oct–Nov 2026)
₹35,513 a quintal
= Income
₹1,98,700
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys
−₹1,07,900
= Left
₹90,800

This week arecanut sells at about ₹29,654 a quintal: India's middle price at 57 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹58,000 a year.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹1,59,000 to ₹2,38,400 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from about year 6: nothing to sell before.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
August, ₹38,000 a quintal
Lowest
February, ₹31,275 a quintal
₹31,275
₹38,000
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Mirzapur Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
27.4 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
5.6 quintals an acre (1.4 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
Karnataka
72% of India's

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Arecanut yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is alkaline moderate 94 districts

Arecanut yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic moderate 94 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).