Grows best at
22–27 °C
0 °C survives 17–31 °C 40 °C

Will it grow on your land?

Kollam Kerala
Water
Season

Possible in Kollam, with effort

Betel Leaves

Holds the land all year

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across your state.

₹5.7 lakh–₹8.6 lakh

per acre a year, before costs

Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹1.4 lakh–₹4.2 lakh an acre a year

  • Needs care: Risky: 9 irrigations short
  • Needs care: Warm in June
  • Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 9 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,540 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,090 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,000 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–27 °C on average, and survives 17–31 °C.

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

  • Jun 31 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jul 30 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Aug 31 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Sep 31 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Oct 31 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Nov 31 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Dec 31 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 32 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
  • Feb 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
  • Mar 33 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
  • Apr 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
  • May 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jun 31 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Betel Leaves: 7 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

  • 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 boron.

Likes pH 5.0–5.6.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 155 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).

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 through the year (December 2024, November 2025): about ₹6,488 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹7,750 a quintal, the middle of 6 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹1.4 lakh a year at typical costs.

Prices are usually best in December.

Typical costs are about ₹9.9 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.

How to make it work

  • Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.

    Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.

    Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

See every crop that suits Kollam

What it needs

Temperature

22–27 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 17–31 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

The check above works out its water need on your land.

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.3 to 6.8.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • K Needs plenty of potassium
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a year, once it bears

₹7,46,300

Yield India's average
87.1 quintals an acre
× Price mandi price through the year (Dec 2025–Nov 2026)
₹15,000 a quintal
= Income
₹13,06,000
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹5,59,700
= Left
₹7,46,300

This week betel leaves sells at about ₹7,750 a quintal: India's middle price at 6 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹1,15,100 a year.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹10,44,800 to ₹15,67,200 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from its first year.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
March, ₹22,750 a quintal
Lowest
November, ₹6,000 a quintal
₹22,750
₹6,000
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Kollam Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
79,271 acres
2025-26
Average yield
87.1 quintals an acre (21.5 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
West Bengal
59% of India's

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

No recent district figures for this crop.