Maize

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Sep–Oct.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

73% of its area. Also grown in rabi, summer.
Ready in
100 days
about 3½ months
Water
330–400 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
18–33 °C
0 °C survives 10–47 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 73% of its area
Rabi 21% of its area
Summer 6% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Lunglei Mizoram
Water
Season

Possible in Lunglei, with effort

Maize

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around January

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

Grown on 318 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹16,000–₹24,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹6,000 to a profit of ₹2,000 an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Needs care: Soil 6/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 80 mm it can use in a normal year (30 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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 28 °C / 21 °C
  • Nov 26 °C / 16 °C
  • Dec 23 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 23 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Maize: 6 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: salt, sulphur, zinc and 4 more.

  • The pH here suits it.
  • Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
  • Most fields here are short of phosphorus.
  • Most fields here are short of potassium.

Likes pH 5.0–7.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 11 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

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 ₹8,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹2,410 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹1,580 2021
  2. ₹2,020 2022
  3. ₹2,010 2023
  4. ₹2,230 2024
  5. ₹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

  • 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.

  • Short of phosphorus Your soil is likely short of phosphorus.

    Add about a quarter more DAP or single super phosphate than the usual dose, at sowing.

    Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

  • Short of potassium Your soil is likely short of potassium.

    Add about a quarter more potash (MOP) than the usual dose.

    Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
88 kg
DAP
57 kg
MOP
30 kg

Source: Middle value of the state doses in ICAR-IISS (2026).

See every crop that suits Lunglei

What it needs

Temperature

18–33 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–47 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

330–400 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Chhindwara Haveri Nashik Vijayanagara Bhilwara

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen and zinc
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 29; FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

For most fields, kharif

Urea nitrogen
85 kg about 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
27 kg about half a 50 kg bag

For most fields, rabi: urea 88 kg, DAP 57 kg, MOP 30 kg an acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

ICAR has worked out the dose for 402 districts. Check it on your land above to see yours.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Fall armyworm
    Pest

    Look for

    Ragged holes and sawdust-like droppings in the whorl; caterpillars with an upside-down Y on the head.

    What to do first

    Check the whorls twice a week and use pheromone traps; sand or ash in the whorl helps. If many plants are hit, spray emamectin benzoate or spinetoram into the whorl. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Stem borer
    Pest

    Look for

    A row of small holes in the leaves; the central shoot dries in young plants.

    What to do first

    Destroy stubble after harvest and release Trichogramma egg cards. Spray only when damage spreads; ask your KVK.

  • Turcicum leaf blight
    Disease

    Look for

    Long cigar-shaped grey-green to tan spots on the leaves.

    What to do first

    Grow a resistant hybrid; in humid weather spray mancozeb when spots first appear. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Downy mildew
    Disease

    Look for

    Pale yellow streaks on leaves with white down underneath; plants stay short.

    What to do first

    Treat seed with metalaxyl and pull out sick plants early. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹4,000

Yield India's average
14.2 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Jan–Feb 2026)
₹1,824 a quintal
= Income
₹26,000
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹22,000
= Left
₹4,000

This week maize sells at about ₹2,700 a quintal: India's middle price at 495 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹16,400 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹2,410 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹12,300 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹20,800 to ₹31,200 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹2,600 a quintal
Lowest
March, ₹1,750 a quintal
₹1,750
₹2,600
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹2,410 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Lunglei Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
2.8 crore acres
2024-25
Average yield
14.2 quintals an acre (3.5 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2024-25
Most area
Chhindwara
Madhya Pradesh
Best yield
Tiruppur
35 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

20% of India's maize area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Chhindwara Madhya Pradesh 3.2% 8.7 lakh acres
  2. 2 Haveri Karnataka 2.6% 6.9 lakh acres
  3. 3 Nashik Maharashtra 2.2% 5.9 lakh acres
  4. 4 Jalgaon Maharashtra 2.0% 5.4 lakh acres
  5. 5 Vijayanagara Karnataka 2.0% 5.3 lakh acres
  6. 6 Belagavi Karnataka 1.9% 5.2 lakh acres
  7. 7 Bhilwara Rajasthan 1.7% 4.6 lakh acres
  8. 8 Seoni Madhya Pradesh 1.7% 4.6 lakh acres
  9. 9 Betul Madhya Pradesh 1.7% 4.5 lakh acres
  10. 10 Chittorgarh Rajasthan 1.5% 4.1 lakh acres

Maize yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

  1. 3.9–7.8
  2. 7.9–9.7
  3. 9.8–12
  4. 13–17
  5. 18–46
No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 5 q 10 q 15 q
2003-04 2024-25
Latest 15 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

1.5 crore 2 crore 2.5 crore 3 crore
2003-04 2024-25
Latest 2.8 crore acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2003-04 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Maize yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in phosphorus weak 604 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).