Potato
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 456 acres here. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
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 150 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 31 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 24 °C / 10 °C
- Feb 28 °C / 13 °C
Soil
Soil for Potato: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen 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 82 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 (February–March 2026): about ₹600 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹800 a quintal, the middle of 25 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹750 2021
- ₹1,180 2022
- ₹800 2023
- ₹1,630 2024
- ₹900 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in May.
Typical costs are about ₹64,000 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):
- Urea 100%