Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 17 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
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 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 500 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 150 mm it can use in a normal year, and 80 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 26 °C / 14 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 12 °C
- Feb 28 °C / 13 °C
- Mar 32 °C / 17 °C
- Apr 33 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Onion: 9 out of 10 (good).
- Soil here is often more acidic than it likes.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 46 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 ₹1,950 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹5,350 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
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 50 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.