Coriander
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 1.3 lakh acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹19,000–₹29,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹1,000–₹11,000 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 340 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 4–32 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 35 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 32 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 27 °C / 11 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Coriander: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 5.5–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.1 quintals an acre here (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 57% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 57% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹8,351 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹14,078 a quintal, the middle of 24 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹23,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹6,200 2021
- ₹9,530 2022
- ₹6,070 2023
- ₹6,250 2024
- ₹6,730 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹18,000 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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.