Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,810 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 370 mm it can use in a normal year, and 350 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 / 26 °C
- Jul 31 °C / 24 °C
- Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 31 °C / 23 °C
- Oct 34 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 33 °C / 16 °C
- Dec 31 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 29 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 33 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 37 °C / 19 °C
- Apr 40 °C / 24 °C
- May 41 °C / 27 °C
- Jun 37 °C / 26 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sugarcane: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of zinc.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 136 quintals an acre here in this season (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.
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
-
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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 44%