Barley

Water

Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (10 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 24 °C / 14 °C
• Dec 22 °C / 11 °C
• Jan 21 °C / 9 °C
• Feb 24 °C / 11 °C
• Mar 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Barley: 5 out of 10 (poor).

Not in the score: salt, sulphur, zinc and 4 more.

• Soil here is often more acidic than it likes.
• Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
• Most fields here are short of potassium.

Likes pH 6.5–8.5.

Money

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

On rain alone it gets about 71% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 71% of this yield.

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). At that price an acre would leave about ₹7,000 a season after typical costs.

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.