Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 116 acres here. Sold at 4 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 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 390 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 80 mm it can use in a normal year, and 60 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 20 °C / 8 °C
- Jan 17 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 22 °C / 10 °C
- Mar 27 °C / 14 °C
- Apr 33 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Onion: 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 27 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 ₹2,050 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹4,950 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹2,880 2021
- ₹2,250 2022
- ₹2,400 2023
- ₹3,650 2024
- ₹2,200 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 92 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.