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 1,650 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 410 mm it can use in a normal year, and 330 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 29 °C / 20 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 20 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 17 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 18 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 21 °C
- Apr 34 °C / 22 °C
- May 33 °C / 22 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 21 °C
Soil
Soil for Arecanut: 6 out of 10 (okay).
Not in the score: nitrogen.
- 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 zinc.
- Most fields here are short of iron.
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 ₹20,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹27,391 a quintal, the middle of 38 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 38 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.