₹83,000–₹1.2 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹18,000–₹60,000 an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 6 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,440 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,180 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,030 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 10–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 31 °C / 24 °C
- Jul 32 °C / 25 °C
- Aug 32 °C / 25 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 25 °C
- Oct 31 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 24 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 26 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 29 °C / 17 °C
- Apr 30 °C / 20 °C
- May 31 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 31 °C / 24 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Black Pepper: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (your district's own figure looked wrong).
A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.
On rain alone it gets about 82% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 82% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–March 2026): about ₹65,872 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹68,511 a quintal, the middle of 33 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹43,000 a year after typical costs.
- ₹38,310 2021
- ₹47,940 2022
- ₹47,750 2023
- ₹60,120 2024
- ₹64,490 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹65,000 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 10 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.