Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 540 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
- Needs care: Very hot in April
- 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 590 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 10 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 28 °C / 14 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 13 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 16 °C
- Mar 35 °C / 20 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 40 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Days in April get hotter than it likes. Time sowing so it flowers before then.
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.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
- Most fields here are short of zinc.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 24 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 ₹1,188 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹4,150 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹2,050 2021
- ₹1,710 2022
- ₹1,700 2023
- ₹2,980 2024
- ₹1,780 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 97 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.