Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 1,155 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹41,000–₹62,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹14,000 to a profit of ₹7,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 330 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 260 mm it can use in a normal year (160 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 180 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 26 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 26 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 26 °C / 17 °C
Soil
Soil for Potato: 7 out of 10 (okay).
Not in the score: organic carbon and pH.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of sulphur.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2. We have no pH figures for this place.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 55 quintals an acre here (district figures).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹950 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹4,500 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your district (latest 11 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.9 lakh a season after typical costs.
- ₹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 67 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 84% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.
Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre 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):
- Urea 84%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 69%
- NPK Mixture 6%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 1%