Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 22 acres here. Last recorded in 2011-12. Priced from mandis across India.
₹55,000–₹82,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹797 to a profit of ₹27,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Needs care: Warm in October
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 370 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 330 mm it can use in a normal year (180 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 10 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 / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 31 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 31 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 31 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Potato: 7 out of 10 (okay).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
- Most fields here are short of sulphur.
Likes pH 5.0–6.2.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 80 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (no recent yield figures for your district).
On rain alone it gets about 90% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 90% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹950 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹3,450 a quintal, the middle of 8 mandis in your state (latest 13 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
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.