Chillies (Dry)
Sow in October, harvest around March
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.
₹1.0 lakh–₹1.5 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹11,000 to a profit of ₹40,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in january
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 300 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 60 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 180 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 17–30 °C on average, and survives 8–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 22 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 14 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 12 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 15 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in November can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Chillies (Dry): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 12 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).
On rain alone it gets about 80% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 80% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (March–April 2026): about ₹13,731 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹17,550 a quintal, the middle of 39 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹49,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹10,650 2021
- ₹14,980 2022
- ₹16,750 2023
- ₹12,910 2024
- ₹12,120 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹1.1 lakh 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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.