Potato
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 54 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹94,000–₹1.4 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹39,000–₹86,000 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 330 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 80 mm it can use in a normal year (50 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 27 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 26 °C / 16 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 13 °C
- Jan 26 °C / 13 °C
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 83 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 79% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 79% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹1,800 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹1,000 a quintal, the middle of 649 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹10,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹2,500 2024
- ₹1,600 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
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 99 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.
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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.