Barley

Water

Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 470 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 15–20 °C on average, and survives 2–40 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Nov 31 °C / 18 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 30 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 31 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 34 °C / 18 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 37 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)

Soil

Soil for Barley: 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: zinc, iron, copper and manganese.

• The pH here suits it.
• Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 6.5–8.5.

Money

Yield: about 12 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

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 last season's harvest (March–April 2026): about ₹2,112 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹2,776 a quintal, the middle of 25 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).

Minimum support price: ₹2,286 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹18,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.