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 1,680 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 340 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 30 °C / 22 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 21 °C
- Aug 28 °C / 21 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 21 °C
- Oct 30 °C / 21 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 31 °C / 17 °C
- Feb 33 °C / 19 °C
- Mar 36 °C / 22 °C
- Apr 36 °C / 23 °C
- May 35 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 22 °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.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
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 ₹28,724 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹24,727 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹42,830 2021
- ₹48,600 2022
- ₹46,030 2023
- ₹48,600 2024
- ₹45,720 2025
Prices are usually best in May.
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 76% 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.
-
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):
- Urea 76%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 53%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 30%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 11%