Papaya
Holds the land all year
Grown on 198 acres here. Last recorded in 2014-15. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 9 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 9 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 890 mm it can use in a normal year, and 820 mm in a dry year.
Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.
Temperature
Grows best at 21–30 °C on average, and survives 12–44 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 32 °C / 25 °C
- Jul 32 °C / 26 °C
- Aug 33 °C / 25 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 25 °C
- Oct 31 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 25 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 28 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 32 °C / 18 °C
- Apr 33 °C / 21 °C
- May 32 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 32 °C / 25 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Papaya: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 88 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (no recent yield figures for your district).
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 through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹2,650 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹3,250 a quintal, the middle of 135 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹2,300 2021
- ₹2,230 2022
- ₹2,390 2023
- ₹2,740 2024
- ₹2,750 2025
Prices are usually best in September.
Typical costs are about ₹1.3 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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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.