Sugarcane

Planted in February–March, or in October, and cut 10 to 12 months later. The stubble then grows back for one or two more harvests.

Check it on your land

Season

Whole year

100% of its area.

Water

1,510–1,870 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

24–37 °C

0 °C survives 15–41 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Planted in February–March, or in October, and cut 10 to 12 months later. The stubble then grows back for one or two more harvests.

Will it grow on your land?

Una Himachal Pradesh

Won't work: too dry without irrigation

Sugarcane

Holds the land all year

Grown on 365 acres here.

Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on

Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
Needs care: Frost risk in January
Suits: Soil 8/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.

Needs about 1,290 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 450 mm it can use in a normal year, and 400 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 37 °C / 25 °C
Jul 32 °C / 24 °C
Aug 31 °C / 24 °C
Sep 31 °C / 22 °C
Oct 29 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
Nov 24 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
Dec 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
Jan 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
Feb 21 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
Mar 26 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
Apr 32 °C / 19 °C
May 36 °C / 24 °C
Jun 37 °C / 25 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Nights in January 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, zinc, iron and 3 more.

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.

Likes pH 5.0–8.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 337 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (your district's own figure looked wrong).

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.

Average mandi price each year (₹ 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

The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 268 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

133 kg

DAP

66 kg

MOP

51 kg

Source: Middle value of the state doses in ICAR-IISS (2026).

See every crop that suits Una

What it needs

Temperature

24–37 °C

best 24–37° 15° 41°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 15–41 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

1,510–1,870 mm over its season

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

Belagavi Solapur Kolhapur Pashchim Champaran Ahilyanagar

Soil pH

best 5–8

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 9.

Soil

No salty soil
Needs rich soil
N Needs plenty of nitrogen and potassium

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 29; 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

For most fields

Urea nitrogen

133 kg about 3 bags of 45 kg

DAP phosphate

66 kg about 1¼ bags of 50 kg

MOP potash

51 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg

Give the DAP and MOP at planting, and the urea in two or three doses. After each cut, the crop that grows back from the stubble is fed the same way again. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

ICAR has worked out the dose for 259 districts. Check it on your land above to see yours.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Red rot

Disease

Look for

Leaves dry from the edges; the cut cane is red inside with white patches and smells sour.

What to do first

Plant healthy setts from a clean nursery and a resistant variety; dig out and burn sick clumps.
Early shoot borer

Pest

Look for

Young shoots dry (dead heart), pull out easily and smell bad.

What to do first

Earth up, mulch with trash and release Trichogramma egg cards; cut out dead hearts.
Top borer

Pest

Look for

Bunchy top with shot holes in the leaves; red tunnels along the midrib.

What to do first

Collect egg masses and cut out hit shoots; release Trichogramma egg cards.
White grub

Pest

Look for

Clumps turn yellow and dry; roots eaten; white C-shaped grubs in the soil.

What to do first

Plough deep in summer and collect beetles after the first rains; treat the soil as your KVK advises.

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 year, once it bears

₹61,700

Yield India's average: 337.2 quintals an acre
× Price the price mills pay (FRP): ₹365 a quintal
= Income: ₹1,23,100
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹61,400
= Left: ₹61,700

Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand make their mills pay more than the FRP: ₹390 to ₹430 a quintal. Open the plan for your district to see it at your state's price.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹98,500 to ₹1,47,700 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from its first year.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

May, ₹360 a quintal

Lowest

September, ₹300 a quintal

₹360

₹300

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–Jul 2026, Sep–Oct 2026).

The centre's fair and remunerative price (FRP) for cane: ₹365 a quintal for 2026-27, the least mills must pay. Every crop's MSP

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 1.3 crore acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 337.2 quintals an acre (83.3 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Kheri; Uttar Pradesh
Best yield: Namakkal; 516 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.

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

5.6–175
176–261
262–309
311–358
359–516

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

200 q 250 q 300 q 350 q

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 338 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 50 lakh 1 crore 1.5 crore 2 crore

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 1.3 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.

Sugarcane yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil that is alkaline moderate 381 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).