Okra (Bhindi)

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

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

Also grown in summer.
Ready in
100 days
about 3½ months
Grows best at
20–30 °C
0 °C survives 12–35 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif
Summer
Today
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?

Malappuram Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Malappuram

Okra (Bhindi)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

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

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Sold at 17 mandis in your district.

₹1.6 lakh–₹2.4 lakh

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹94,000–₹1.7 lakh an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 350 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,020 mm it can use in a normal year, and 770 mm in a dry year.

Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 12–35 °C.

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

  • Jun 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Jul 29 °C / 23 °C
  • Aug 29 °C / 24 °C
  • Sep 30 °C / 24 °C

Soil

Soil for Okra (Bhindi): 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

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

Likes pH 5.5–7.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 54 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹3,750 a quintal at mandis in your district.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹2,650 2021
  2. ₹2,830 2022
  3. ₹3,800 2023
  4. ₹3,540 2024
  5. ₹3,630 2025

Prices are usually best in December.

Typical costs are about ₹66,000 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 boron Your soil is likely short of boron.

    Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil 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):

  • NPK Mixture 5%
  • Urea 2%
  • Urea Ammonium Phosphate 2%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
71 kg
DAP
44 kg
MOP
34 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Malappuram

What it needs

Temperature

20–30 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 12–35 °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 4.5 to 8.7.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen and potassium
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

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
71 kg about 1½ bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
44 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
34 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

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.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Yellow vein mosaic
    Disease

    Look for

    A yellow network of veins; fruit pale and hard; spread by whitefly.

    What to do first

    Grow a resistant variety and pull out sick plants.

  • Fruit and shoot borer
    Pest

    Look for

    Shoot tips wilt; holes in the fruit with caterpillars inside.

    What to do first

    Cut and destroy hit shoots and fruit every week; spray only on advice.

  • Jassids
    Pest

    Look for

    Leaf edges turn yellow and curl.

    What to do first

    Spray when many plants are hit. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Powdery mildew
    Disease

    Look for

    White powder on the leaves.

    What to do first

    Spray wettable sulphur. 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

₹84,500

Yield India's average
55.8 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Sep–Oct 2026)
₹2,750 a quintal
= Income
₹1,53,600
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹69,100
= Left
₹84,500

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹1,22,800 to ₹1,84,300 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
December, ₹4,500 a quintal
Lowest
May, ₹2,163 a quintal
₹2,163
₹4,500
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).

Latest prices near Malappuram Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
14.2 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
55.8 quintals an acre (13.8 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
Gujarat
18% 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.