Onion
Sow in July, harvest around November
This season's sowing time (July–August) is over.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Sold at 8 mandis in your district.
₹1.5 lakh–₹2.2 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹44,000–₹1.2 lakh an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Needs care: Warm in July
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 500 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 410 mm it can use in a normal year, and 320 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):
- Jul 34 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 32 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 27 °C / 12 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Onion: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 63 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 83% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 83% of this yield.
Mandi price at this season's harvest so far (November 2026): about ₹3,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹3,500 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 10 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹81,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹1,820 2021
- ₹1,400 2022
- ₹1,360 2023
- ₹2,070 2024
- ₹1,200 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹1.0 lakh 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 64 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
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.
About 100% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 100%
- Urea 100%