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 1,670 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 420 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 31 °C / 22 °C
- Jul 30 °C / 21 °C
- Aug 30 °C / 21 °C
- Sep 30 °C / 21 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 27 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 16 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 16 °C
- Feb 31 °C / 17 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 19 °C
- Apr 35 °C / 22 °C
- May 34 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 31 °C / 22 °C
Soil
Soil for Arecanut: 6 out of 10 (okay).
- 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.
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.