Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 157 acres here. Sold at 6 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 480 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year, and 0 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 12–25 °C on average, and survives 4–33 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Dec 23 °C / 7 °C
- Jan 20 °C / 6 °C
- Feb 25 °C / 9 °C
- Mar 31 °C / 14 °C
- Apr 38 °C / 20 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Onion: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 57 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (April–May 2026): about ₹1,100 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹3,100 a quintal, the middle of 26 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,300 2021
- ₹1,200 2022
- ₹1,500 2023
- ₹2,380 2024
- ₹1,400 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in September.
Typical costs are about ₹42,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
-
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.
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):
- Urea 100%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 96%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 72%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 67%