Rapeseed & Mustard
Sow in October, harvest around August
This season's sowing time (October) is over.
Grown on 8 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 8 irrigations short
- Needs care: Cool in October
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 8 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 640 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 250 mm it can use in a normal year (130 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–28 °C on average, and survives 7–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 11 °C / 1 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 6 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 3 °C / -6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 5 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 9 °C / -1 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
- May 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 23 °C / 12 °C
- Jul 22 °C / 13 °C
- Aug 22 °C / 12 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Rapeseed & Mustard: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.9 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 (August–September 2026): about ₹7,470 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹8,226 a quintal, the middle of 176 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹6,613 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹6,280 2021
- ₹6,220 2022
- ₹5,210 2023
- ₹5,400 2024
- ₹6,200 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹20,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). 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.