Potato
Sow in March, harvest around July
Grown on 35 acres here. Sold at 3 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 7 irrigations short
- Suits: Frost risk in March
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 7 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 520 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 220 mm it can use in a normal year, and 190 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 7–30 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Mar 15 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 21 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- May 25 °C / 12 °C
- Jun 28 °C / 16 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 18 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in March can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Potato: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 50 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 (July–August 2026): about ₹1,100 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹950 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,700 2022
- ₹1,630 2023
- ₹1,950 2024
- ₹1,600 2025
Prices are usually best in December.
Typical costs are about ₹73,000 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 54 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.