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?

Malappuram Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Malappuram

Pineapple

Holds the land all year

Grown on 284 acres here. Last recorded in 2012-13. Sold at 12 mandis in your district.

₹2.0 lakh–₹3.0 lakh

per acre a year, before costs

once bearing, from about year 2

After typical costs: ₹55,000–₹1.5 lakh an acre a year

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 530 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,810 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,420 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 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Jul 29 °C / 23 °C
  • Aug 29 °C / 24 °C
  • Sep 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Oct 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Dec 32 °C / 23 °C
  • Jan 32 °C / 23 °C
  • Feb 33 °C / 24 °C
  • Mar 34 °C / 25 °C
  • Apr 34 °C / 26 °C
  • May 33 °C / 26 °C
  • Jun 30 °C / 24 °C

Soil

Soil for Pineapple: 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

  • 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 4.5–6.5.

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 ₹6,300 a quintal at mandis in your district.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹2,900 2021
  2. ₹2,980 2022
  3. ₹3,750 2023
  4. ₹4,450 2024
  5. ₹4,730 2025

Prices are usually best in October.

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 boron Your soil is likely short of boron.

    Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.

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

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

  • Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate / Nitrogen Phosphate 95%
  • Urea 95%
See every crop that suits Malappuram

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 Malappuram 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.