Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 230 acres here. Sold at 4 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 5 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- 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 390 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 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 34 °C / 20 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 33 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 31 °C / 12 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 11 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Potato: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: salt.
- 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 91 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 (February 2026): about ₹714 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹1,150 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹1,250 2021
- ₹1,200 2022
- ₹1,350 2023
- ₹1,370 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
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 104 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 92%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 16%