Chillies (Dry)

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

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM
77% of its area. Also grown in rabi.
Ready in
160 days
about 5½ months
Water
660–690 mm
over its season
Temperature
17–30 °C
0° survives 8–35 °C 40°

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 77% of its area
Rabi 22% of its area
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.

Will it grow on your land?

Water
Season

Pick your place and water to see:

  • Whether Chillies (Dry) suits your land Good fit, possible or won't work, with the reasons.
  • What it could earn an acre From yields near you and mandi prices.
  • Water and fertiliser it needs Irrigations for your water, and bags for one acre.

What it needs

Temperature

17–30 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 8–35 °C.

Water

660–690 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Guntur Palnadu Ballari Prakasam Khammam

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 7.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • K Needs plenty of potassium and sulphur
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°).

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your KVK
Urea nitrogen
85 kg 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
40 kg 1 bag of 50 kg

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 KVK
  • Thrips
    Pest

    Look for

    Leaves curl upward like a boat.

    What to do first

    Use blue sticky traps; spray when many plants curl. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Mites
    Pest

    Look for

    Leaves curl downward and turn thick and shiny.

    What to do first

    Spray wettable sulphur. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Fruit rot and dieback
    Disease

    Look for

    Dark sunken spots on ripening fruit; twigs dry from the tips.

    What to do first

    Use clean seed; spray a copper fungicide or mancozeb. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Leaf curl virus
    Disease

    Look for

    Leaves curl and shrink; plants stay short; spread by whitefly.

    What to do first

    Raise seedlings under net, pull out sick plants and control whitefly.

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹17,757
Lowest
June, ₹13,330
₹13,330
₹17,757
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis.

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
5,98,679 ha
2021-22
Average yield
1.9 t/ha
2021-22
Most area
Guntur
Andhra Pradesh
Best yield
Hisar
8.4 t/ha

States that grow it

Production in each state's latest year with figures (2025-26).

  1. Andhra Pradesh 8.4 lakh t
  2. Telangana 3.4 lakh t
  3. Madhya Pradesh 3.1 lakh t
  4. Karnataka 2.2 lakh t
  5. Odisha 89,000 t
  6. Punjab 65,999 t
  7. Gujarat 61,185 t
  8. Uttar Pradesh 44,623 t
  9. Maharashtra 37,358 t
  10. Tamil Nadu 27,423 t

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.

51% of India's chillies (dry) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Guntur Andhra Pradesh 10% 72,820 ha
  2. 2 Palnadu Andhra Pradesh 8.3% 58,590 ha
  3. 3 Ballari Karnataka 6.9% 48,998 ha
  4. 4 Prakasam Andhra Pradesh 5.7% 40,565 ha
  5. 5 Khammam Telangana 3.9% 27,538 ha
  6. 6 Kurnool Andhra Pradesh 3.8% 26,903 ha
  7. 7 Dharwad Karnataka 3.7% 26,524 ha
  8. 8 Mahabubabad Telangana 2.8% 19,897 ha
  9. 9 Nandyal Andhra Pradesh 2.6% 18,755 ha
  10. 10 Ntr Andhra Pradesh 2.6% 18,379 ha

Chillies (Dry) yield

  1. 0.2–0.8 t/ha
  2. 0.8–0.9 t/ha
  3. 0.9–1.4 t/ha
  4. 1.5–3.1 t/ha
  5. 3.3–8.4 t/ha
No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 1999-00 to 2021-22.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 1999-00 to 2021-22.

Across India over the years

Yield (t/ha)

0.0 1.7 3.4
1999-00 2021-22
Latest 1.9 t/ha in 2021-22

Area (ha)

0.0 400K 800K
1999-00 2021-22
Latest 5,98,679 ha in 2021-22

Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 1999-00 to 2021-22.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Chillies (Dry) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in phosphorus weak 264 districts
  • More soil medium in organic carbon weak 264 districts

Chillies (Dry) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil medium in phosphorus weak 264 districts
  • More soil low in phosphorus weak 264 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).