Cotton
Sow in May, harvest around November
This season's sowing time (April–May) is over.
Grown on 247 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 780 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 220 mm it can use in a normal year, and 170 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 22–36 °C on average, and survives 15–42 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- May 40 °C / 24 °C
- Jun 40 °C / 27 °C
- Jul 36 °C / 27 °C
- Aug 34 °C / 26 °C
- Sep 34 °C / 24 °C
- Oct 33 °C / 18 °C
Soil
Soil for Cotton: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen.
- Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
- It copes with the salt here.
- Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.7 quintals of kapas (raw cotton) an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 (December 2025): about ₹7,175 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹8,684 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹8,267 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
That is the price for medium staple kapas (raw cotton). Long staple kapas has ₹8,667 a quintal.
- ₹6,420 2021
- ₹7,000 2023
- ₹7,150 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹28,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 4.1 quintals of kapas (raw cotton) an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.