Potato
Sow in November, harvest around March
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 1,621 acres here. Sold at 13 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Frost risk in December
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 7–30 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 30 °C / 11 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 7 °C
- Jan 22 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 27 °C / 9 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in December can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Potato: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen, potassium and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 113 quintals an acre here (district figures).
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 (March–April 2026): about ₹615 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹900 a quintal, the middle of 5 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹900 2021
- ₹1,150 2022
- ₹900 2023
- ₹1,700 2024
- ₹1,000 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in December.
Typical costs are about ₹68,000 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
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 100%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 100%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 100%
- Urea 100%