Maize
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 11,816 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹18,000–₹26,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹4,000 to a profit of ₹4,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 150 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):
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 24 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 22 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Maize: 8 out of 10 (good).
- 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 20 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 62% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 62% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹1,824 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹2,700 a quintal, the middle of 495 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹11,000 a season after typical costs.
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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 18 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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 96% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 96%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 53%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 42%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 10%