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 1,620 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 490 mm it can use in a normal year, and 410 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 29 °C / 21 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 20 °C
- Aug 28 °C / 20 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 20 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 29 °C / 17 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 18 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 21 °C
- Apr 34 °C / 22 °C
- May 33 °C / 22 °C
- Jun 29 °C / 21 °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 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 ₹12,250 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 February.
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 14% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
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 14%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 3%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 3%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 3%