Brinjal

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Nov–Dec.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

56% of its area. Also grown in rabi, summer.
Ready in
150 days
about 5 months
Grows best at
20–35 °C
0 °C survives 9–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 56% of its area
Rabi 44% of its area
Summer
Today: kharif harvest
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Puducherry Puducherry
Water
Season

Good fit in Puducherry

Brinjal

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in July, harvest around December

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 67 acres here. Last recorded in 2015-16. Priced from mandis across India.

₹1.3 lakh–₹2.0 lakh

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹58,000–₹1.2 lakh an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 590 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 660 mm it can use in a normal year, and 420 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–35 °C on average, and survives 9–40 °C.

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

  • Jul 35 °C / 26 °C
  • Aug 34 °C / 25 °C
  • Sep 34 °C / 25 °C
  • Oct 32 °C / 24 °C
  • Nov 30 °C / 23 °C
  • Dec 29 °C / 22 °C

Soil

Soil for Brinjal: 7 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: organic carbon, sulphur and boron.

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

Likes pH 5.5–6.8.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 78 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹2,106 a quintal across India's mandis.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹1,450 2021
  2. ₹1,640 2022
  3. ₹1,510 2023
  4. ₹1,910 2024
  5. ₹1,750 2025

Prices are usually best in August.

Typical costs are about ₹73,000 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

  • 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 100% of local fields of this crop get it.

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

    Add about a quarter more potash (MOP) than the usual dose.

    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):

  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 100%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
85 kg
DAP
53 kg
MOP
40 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Puducherry

What it needs

Temperature

20–35 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 9–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

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

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.3 to 8.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen and 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

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
85 kg about 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
40 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

Hybrids often get more

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Shoot and fruit borer
    Pest

    Look for

    Shoot tips wilt; holes in the fruit with caterpillars inside.

    What to do first

    Every week, cut and destroy wilted shoots and holed fruit; use pheromone traps. Spray only on advice.

  • Little leaf
    Disease

    Look for

    Tiny leaves on a bushy plant that doesn't fruit.

    What to do first

    Pull out sick plants and control leafhoppers.

  • Bacterial wilt
    Disease

    Look for

    Plants wilt suddenly while still green.

    What to do first

    Rotate crops; grafted plants on resistant rootstock help.

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 season

₹97,300

Yield India's average
77.6 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Dec 2025)
₹2,300 a quintal
= Income
₹1,78,400
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹81,100
= Left
₹97,300

This week brinjal sells at about ₹2,350 a quintal: India's middle price at 611 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹1,01,200 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹1,42,700 to ₹2,14,100 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
August, ₹2,500 a quintal
Lowest
April, ₹1,800 a quintal
₹1,800
₹2,500
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 Puducherry Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
17.1 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
77.6 quintals an acre (19.2 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
West Bengal
24% 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.