Sugarcane
Holds the land all year
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in january
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,070 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 490 mm it can use in a normal year, and 450 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 24–37 °C on average, and survives 15–41 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 30 °C / 20 °C
- Jul 27 °C / 20 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 26 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 26 °C / 18 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 24 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 20 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 16 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 16 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 21 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 26 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
- May 30 °C / 18 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 20 °C
Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Sugarcane: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 337 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Priced at the government's fair and remunerative price for cane, ₹365 a quintal.
- ₹300 2021
- ₹300 2022
- ₹300 2023
- ₹330 2024
- ₹350 2025
Prices are usually best in May.
Typical costs are about ₹61,000 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.