Pineapple

Planted once, harvested year after year.

Check it on your land
Season
Whole year
100% of its area.
Water
530–540 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
21–30 °C
0 °C survives 10–36 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Planted once, usually at the start of the rains. It stays for years: the first real harvest comes after about 2 years, then one every year.

Will it grow on your land?

Idukki Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Idukki

Pineapple

Holds the land all year

Grown on 2,071 acres here. Last recorded in 2012-13. Sold at 7 mandis in your district.

₹1.7 lakh–₹2.6 lakh

per acre a year, before costs

once bearing, from about year 2

After typical costs: ₹30,000–₹1.2 lakh an acre a year

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 500 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,290 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,080 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 10–36 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

  • Jun 27 °C / 20 °C
  • Jul 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Aug 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Sep 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Oct 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Nov 26 °C / 18 °C
  • Dec 26 °C / 17 °C
  • Jan 26 °C / 17 °C
  • Feb 28 °C / 17 °C
  • Mar 29 °C / 19 °C
  • Apr 29 °C / 20 °C
  • May 29 °C / 20 °C
  • Jun 27 °C / 20 °C

Soil

Soil for Pineapple: 8 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: organic carbon and pH.

  • Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
  • Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
  • Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

Likes pH 4.5–6.5. We have no pH figures for this place.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 39 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (no recent yield figures for your district).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 2 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (July–September 2026): about ₹5,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹3,000 2021
  2. ₹4,000 2022
  3. ₹4,500 2023
  4. ₹3,900 2024
  5. ₹5,000 2025

Prices are usually best in March.

Typical costs are about ₹1.4 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

  • 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.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

  • Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.

    Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.

    About 11% of local fields of this crop get it.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 11%
  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 7%
  • NPK Mixture 6%
  • Nitro Phosphate 3%
See every crop that suits Idukki

What it needs

Temperature

21–30 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–36 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

530–540 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

South Goa North Goa

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 3.5 to 7.5.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • K Needs plenty of potassium, zinc and boron
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR and National Horticulture Board guides; FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a year, once it bears

₹1,62,300

Yield India's average
69.5 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Jul–Sep 2026)
₹4,500 a quintal
= Income
₹3,12,800
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹1,50,500
= Left
₹1,62,300

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹2,50,200 to ₹3,75,400 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from about year 2: nothing to sell before.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
October, ₹5,000 a quintal
Lowest
December, ₹3,750 a quintal
₹5,000
₹3,750
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Idukki Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
2.5 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
69.5 quintals an acre (17.2 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
Assam
19% of India's

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

No recent district figures for this crop.