Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 3,181 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
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 310 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 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):
- Oct 32 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 29 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 23 °C / 10 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
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.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 24 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 (January–February 2026): about ₹950 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹1,000 a quintal, the middle of 649 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,060 2021
- ₹1,370 2022
- ₹1,100 2023
- ₹2,050 2024
- ₹1,250 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 83 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 55% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 55%
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 4%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 2%