Potato
Sow in October, harvest around May
Grown on 99 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Needs care: Frost risk in November
- 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 460 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 120 mm it can use in a normal year (60 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 21 °C / 10 °C
- Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 14 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 12 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 15 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 25 °C / 11 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in November can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
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.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 46 quintals an acre here (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 (May–June 2026): about ₹675 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹950 a quintal, the middle of 15 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹840 2021
- ₹1,060 2022
- ₹930 2023
- ₹1,440 2024
- ₹1,000 2025
Prices are usually best in August.
Typical costs are about ₹72,000 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 46 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 21% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 21%