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 Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,250 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 460 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 31 °C / 21 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 21 °C
- Aug 28 °C / 21 °C
- Sep 28 °C / 19 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 26 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 22 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 18 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 25 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 31 °C / 17 °C
- May 33 °C / 19 °C
- Jun 31 °C / 21 °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: organic carbon.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of manganese.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 324 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 cane price Uttarakhand fixed for its mills for 2025-26: ₹395 a quintal, ₹405 for early varieties.
- ₹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 327 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
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.
About 90% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
Short of manganese Your soil is likely short of manganese.
Spray manganese sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, on the young crop.
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 90%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 87%
- Ammonium Sulphate 0%