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

Sow Harvest

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

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?

North And Middle Andaman Andaman And Nicobar Islands

We can't judge it in North And Middle Andaman yet: no rain and temperature records.

Maize

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 25 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹16,000–₹25,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹6,000 to a profit of ₹3,000 an acre a season

Not known: No rain data
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Needs care: Soil 6/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Needs about 310 mm of water here in its growing months.

Temperature

Grows best at 18–33 °C on average, and survives 10–47 °C.

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

Jun 30 °C / 25 °C
Jul 30 °C / 24 °C
Aug 29 °C / 24 °C
Sep 29 °C / 24 °C

Soil

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

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 8.7 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹2,350 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 ₹2,000 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):

₹1,580 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

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.
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.

Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.

Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.

Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.

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

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

85 kg

DAP

53 kg

MOP

27 kg

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

See every crop that suits North And Middle Andaman

What it needs

Temperature

18–33 °C

best 18–33° 10° 47°

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

best 5–7

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

₹11,500

Yield India's average: 14.2 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Sep–Oct 2026): ₹2,350 a quintal
= Income: ₹33,500
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹22,000
= Left: ₹11,500

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: ₹26,800 to ₹40,100 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

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

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 North And Middle Andaman 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.

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

3.9–7.8
7.9–9.7
9.8–12
13–17
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.

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.

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).