Fennel

Water

Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 460 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 120 mm it can use in a normal year (50 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 6–32 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Nov 29 °C / 17 °C
• Dec 26 °C / 13 °C
• Jan 24 °C / 12 °C
• Feb 26 °C / 14 °C
• Mar 29 °C / 17 °C
• Apr 29 °C / 20 °C

Soil

Soil for Fennel: 8 out of 10 (good).

• Soil here is often more acidic than it likes.
• Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
• Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 6.5–7.5.

Money

Yield: about 6.6 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

On rain alone it gets about 70% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 70% of this yield.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (April–May 2026): about ₹9,049 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹11,200 a quintal, the middle of 5 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹19,000 a season after typical costs.

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 ₹33,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.