Potato
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 39,830 acres here. Sold at 9 mandis in your district.
₹21,000–₹31,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹33,000–₹44,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
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 300 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 120 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 / 15 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 10 °C
- Jan 22 °C / 9 °C
- Feb 27 °C / 13 °C
Soil
Soil for Potato: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 117 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 41% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 41% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹539 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹600 a quintal, the middle of 85 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹36,000 a season at typical costs.
- ₹1,010 2021
- ₹1,250 2022
- ₹880 2023
- ₹1,870 2024
- ₹1,060 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 ₹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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 115 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
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.
About 96% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
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 96%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 77%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 35%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 14%