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 5/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,620 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 510 mm it can use in a normal year, and 370 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 30 °C / 21 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 20 °C
- Aug 28 °C / 20 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 20 °C
- Oct 28 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 27 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 16 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 16 °C
- Feb 31 °C / 17 °C
- Mar 33 °C / 20 °C
- Apr 34 °C / 22 °C
- May 33 °C / 22 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 21 °C
Soil
Soil for Arecanut: 5 out of 10 (poor).
- Soil here is often too alkaline for it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- 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 5.7 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 ₹29,100 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹27,391 a quintal, the middle of 38 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹41,580 2021
- ₹45,630 2022
- ₹44,640 2023
- ₹32,850 2024
- ₹29,320 2025
Prices are usually best in March.
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
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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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
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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.
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Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.
Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.
About 97% of local fields of this crop get it.
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
About 97% of local fields of this crop get it.
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Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.
Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
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Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
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):
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 97%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 3%