Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 45,090 acres here. Sold at 9 mandis in your district.
₹65,000–₹98,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹10,000–₹42,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 3 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 20 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 180 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 32 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 30 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 13 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 11 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Potato: 9 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 boron.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 120 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 65% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 65% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹1,050 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹1,000 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹22,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹950 2021
- ₹1,780 2022
- ₹1,310 2023
- ₹2,240 2024
- ₹1,130 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 ₹56,000 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 130 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 99% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
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 99%
- NPK Mixture 27%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 12%
- Rock Phosphate 12%