Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across India.
₹1.9 lakh–₹2.8 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹79,000–₹1.7 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,040 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 880 mm it can use in a normal year, and 800 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–28 °C on average, and survives 12–36 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 28 °C / 21 °C
- Jul 25 °C / 20 °C
- Aug 25 °C / 20 °C
- Sep 26 °C / 19 °C
- Oct 28 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 15 °C
- Jan 29 °C / 15 °C
- Feb 31 °C / 16 °C
- Mar 33 °C / 18 °C
- Apr 34 °C / 21 °C
- May 33 °C / 21 °C
- Jun 28 °C / 21 °C
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of iron, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 45 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district). Government figures count it with lime.
A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.
On rain alone it gets about 84% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 84% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹6,250 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,500 a quintal, the middle of 145 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.7 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹3,030 2021
- ₹4,050 2022
- ₹3,710 2023
- ₹6,000 2024
- ₹4,410 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in April.
Typical costs are about ₹1.1 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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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.