Maize
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in december
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 90 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 10 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 18–33 °C on average, and survives 10–47 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 11 °C / 1 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 6 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 3 °C / -6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 5 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in November can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Maize: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 11 quintals 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 (February–March 2026): about ₹1,762 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹2,700 a quintal, the middle of 495 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹2,410 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹1,580 2021
- ₹2,020 2022
- ₹2,010 2023
- ₹2,230 2024
- ₹2,150 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹22,000 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
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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.
About 28% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 28%