Potato
Sow in October, harvest around May
Grown on 2,187 acres here. Sold at 6 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 5 irrigations short
- Needs care: Frost risk in November
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 5 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 450 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 130 mm it can use in a normal year (60 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 100 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):
- Oct 21 °C / 11 °C
- Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 14 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 11 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 18 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 23 °C / 12 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in November 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).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 35 quintals an acre here in this season (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 (May–June 2026): about ₹1,650 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹1,375 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,480 2021
- ₹2,130 2022
- ₹1,600 2023
- ₹2,600 2024
- ₹1,830 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹72,000 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 48 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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 47% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 47%
- Urea 36%
- Nitro Phosphate Potash 4%
- NPK Mixture 4%