Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 906 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 580 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 26 °C / 9 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 9 °C
- Feb 29 °C / 12 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 16 °C
- Apr 38 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Onion: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 78 quintals an acre here (district figures).
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 ₹993 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹3,200 a quintal, the middle of 56 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,330 2021
- ₹820 2022
- ₹950 2023
- ₹1,750 2024
- ₹950 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 103 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.