Rapeseed & Mustard

A winter crop. Sow in Oct, harvest in Feb.

Check it on your land

Season

Rabi

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.

Ready in

120 days

about 4 months

Water

290–310 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

15–28 °C

0 °C survives 7–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 100% of its area

Today

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Upper Subansiri Arunachal Pradesh

Good fit in Upper Subansiri

Rapeseed & Mustard

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around February

This season's sowing time (October) is over.

Grown on 284 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹29,000–₹44,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹9,000–₹24,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Not known: No soil score

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 100 mm it can use in a normal year (90 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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 27 °C / 18 °C
Nov 23 °C / 13 °C
Dec 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
Jan 19 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
Feb 20 °C / 10 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

No soil score here: the soil tests don't say enough about nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium.

Likes pH 6.0–8.0.

Money

Yield: about 6.1 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹5,975 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹8,226 a quintal, the middle of 176 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹30,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹6,613 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹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.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

28 kg

DAP

18 kg

MOP

13 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Upper Subansiri

What it needs

Temperature

15–28 °C

best 15–28° 7° 40°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 7–40 °C.

Water

290–310 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Tonk Ganganagar Alwar Bikaner Bharatpur

Soil pH

best 6–8

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 8.8.

Soil

Takes a little salt
Needs rich soil
S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-DRMR; FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

With irrigation

Urea nitrogen

57 kg about 1¼ bags of 45 kg

DAP phosphate

35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

27 kg about half a 50 kg bag

Sulphur: 16 kg for one acre, from about 90 kg of gypsum or 135 kg of single super phosphate

Rain-fed: urea 28 kg, DAP 18 kg, MOP 13 kg an acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Aphids

Pest

Look for

Clusters of small grey-green insects on flower heads and pods; pods stay small.

What to do first

Sow early, by October. Spray when many plants carry clusters; ask your KVK.
White rust

Disease

Look for

White blisters under the leaves; flower heads swell and twist.

What to do first

Use clean seed and a resistant variety; spray metalaxyl with mancozeb when it appears. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Alternaria blight

Disease

Look for

Brown round spots with rings on leaves and pods.

What to do first

Sow on time; spray mancozeb when spots appear. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Stem rot

Disease

Look for

Water-soaked patches on stems with white cottony mould; plants break.

What to do first

Rotate crops and don't over-irrigate; where it comes back every year, spray carbendazim at flowering. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹15,400

Yield India's average: 6.0 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Feb 2026): ₹5,950 a quintal
= Income: ₹35,600
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹20,200
= Left: ₹15,400

This week rapeseed & mustard sells at about ₹8,226 a quintal: India's middle price at 176 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹29,100 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹6,613 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹19,400 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹28,500 to ₹42,800 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

November, ₹8,250 a quintal

Lowest

February, ₹5,950 a quintal

₹5,950

₹8,250

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹6,613 a quintal for 2027-28. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Upper Subansiri Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 1.8 crore acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 6.0 quintals an acre (1.5 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Tonk; Rajasthan
Best yield: Deeg; 9.6 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Rapeseed & Mustard yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

0.5–2.7
2.8–3.7
3.8–4.7
4.8–6.2
6.3–9.6

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2 q 4 q 6 q 8 q

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 5.8 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 1 crore 2 crore 3 crore

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 1.8 crore acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Rapeseed & Mustard yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil that is alkaline weak 522 districts

Rapeseed & Mustard yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil that is acidic moderate 522 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).