Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,530 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 430 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 35 °C / 24 °C
- Jul 29 °C / 23 °C
- Aug 29 °C / 23 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 23 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 24 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 24 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 28 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 32 °C / 17 °C
- Apr 36 °C / 22 °C
- May 38 °C / 25 °C
- Jun 35 °C / 24 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sugarcane: 7 out of 10 (okay).
Not in the score: phosphorus.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
- Most fields here are short of sulphur.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 124 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (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.
Prices are usually best in April.
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 229 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
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Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
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Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.
Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.
About 69% of local fields of this crop get it.
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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.
About 69% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 69%