Cashew

Water

Rain falls about 10 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,280 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 800 mm it can use in a normal year, and 570 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 15–35 °C on average, and survives 5–46 °C.

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

• Jun 37 °C / 26 °C
• 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
• Jan 30 °C / 21 °C
• Feb 31 °C / 22 °C
• Mar 33 °C / 23 °C
• Apr 35 °C / 26 °C
• May 37 °C / 27 °C
• Jun 37 °C / 26 °C

Soil

Soil for Cashew: 8 out of 10 (good).

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

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

Likes pH 4.5–6.5.

Money

Yield: about 1.8 quintals an acre here (district figures).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

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–May 2026): about ₹14,855 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹11,475 a quintal, the middle of 6 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).

Prices are usually best in February.

Typical costs are about ₹25,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.