Grows best at
22–34 °C
0 °C survives 12–38 °C 40 °C

Will it grow on your land?

Idukki Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Idukki

Nutmeg

Holds the land all year

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Sold at 3 mandis in your district.

₹1.5 lakh–₹2.2 lakh

per acre a year, before costs

once bearing, from about year 6

After typical costs: ₹1.1 lakh–₹1.8 lakh an acre a year

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Needs care: Soil 7/10
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 1,390 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,290 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,080 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–34 °C on average, and survives 12–38 °C.

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

  • Jun 27 °C / 20 °C
  • Jul 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Aug 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Sep 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Oct 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Nov 26 °C / 18 °C
  • Dec 26 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 26 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
  • Feb 28 °C / 17 °C
  • Mar 29 °C / 19 °C
  • Apr 29 °C / 20 °C
  • May 29 °C / 20 °C
  • Jun 27 °C / 20 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Nutmeg: 7 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: organic carbon and pH.

  • Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
  • Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

Likes pH 6.0–7.0. We have no pH figures for this place.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 2.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 6 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (June–August 2026): about ₹63,350 a quintal at mandis in your district.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹29,750 2021
  2. ₹31,750 2022
  3. ₹29,500 2023
  4. ₹22,500 2024
  5. ₹30,000 2025

Prices are usually best in June.

Typical costs are about ₹40,000 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

  • 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.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

  • 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.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 4%
  • Urea 4%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 3%
  • NPK Mixture 1%
See every crop that suits Idukki

What it needs

Temperature

22–34 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 12–38 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

The check above works out its water need on your land.

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5.5 to 7.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • K Needs plenty of potassium and sulphur
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); 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

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

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 year, once it bears

₹33,200

Yield India's average
3.0 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price in an earlier season (Jun–Aug 2025)
₹25,000 a quintal
= Income
₹73,800
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹40,600
= Left
₹33,200

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹59,000 to ₹88,500 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from about year 6: nothing to sell before.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
May, ₹70,000 a quintal
Lowest
July, ₹23,000 a quintal
₹70,000
₹23,000
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 (Jun–Oct 2025, Dec 2025–May 2026).

Latest prices near Idukki Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
65,522 acres
2025-26
Average yield
3.0 quintals an acre (0.7 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
Kerala
96% of India's

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

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.

No recent district figures for this crop.