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 Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,790 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 320 mm it can use in a normal year, and 210 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 34 °C / 24 °C
- Jul 32 °C / 24 °C
- Aug 32 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 23 °C
- Oct 32 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 21 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 19 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 19 °C
- Feb 34 °C / 20 °C
- Mar 37 °C / 23 °C
- Apr 39 °C / 26 °C
- May 38 °C / 26 °C
- Jun 34 °C / 24 °C
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.
Likes pH 5.5–6.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 7.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 ₹29,654 a quintal, the middle of 57 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹37,280 2021
- ₹40,000 2022
- ₹35,750 2023
- ₹29,400 2024
- ₹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.
About 51% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 51%
- Urea 49%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 31%
- NPK Mixture 7%