Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 101 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹46,000–₹69,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹9,000 to a profit of ₹14,000 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 100 mm it can use in a normal year (30 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 160 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 29 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 27 °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 zinc.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 42 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 lose about ₹7,000 a season at 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 79 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.