Chillies (Dry)
Sow in August, harvest around January
This season's sowing time (August–September) is over.
Grown on 25 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹2.1 lakh–₹3.1 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹92,000–₹2.0 lakh an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 520 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 370 mm it can use in a normal year, and 260 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 17–30 °C on average, and survives 8–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Aug 31 °C / 25 °C
- Sep 31 °C / 25 °C
- Oct 31 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 16 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 16 °C
Soil
Soil for Chillies (Dry): 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 nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 23 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 72% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 72% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹15,759 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹22,000 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹2.5 lakh a season after typical costs.
- ₹7,060 2021
- ₹14,700 2022
- ₹16,200 2023
- ₹11,520 2024
- ₹12,050 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹1.2 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 8.9 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.