Onion
Sow in December, harvest around April
Grown on 74 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 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 540 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 0 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 / 11 °C
- Jan 24 °C / 10 °C
- Feb 28 °C / 13 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 40 °C / 24 °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: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen, sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 57 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 ₹969 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹3,100 a quintal, the middle of 26 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,780 2021
- ₹1,160 2022
- ₹1,200 2023
- ₹2,160 2024
- ₹1,300 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 115 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.