Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 817 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹68,000–₹1.0 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹12,000–₹46,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 340 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 70 mm it can use in a normal year (30 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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 31 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 30 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 15 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 15 °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.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, 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 62 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 78% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 78% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹1,740 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹1,475 a quintal, the middle of 26 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹16,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹1,500 2021
- ₹2,100 2022
- ₹1,750 2023
- ₹2,980 2024
- ₹2,000 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 106 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 100% 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):
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 100%
- Urea 100%
- Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 4%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 0%