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 December
- 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 1,370 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 530 mm it can use in a normal year, and 410 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 39 °C / 26 °C
- Jul 34 °C / 25 °C
- Aug 33 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 23 °C
- Oct 30 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 25 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 20 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 18 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 21 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 33 °C / 19 °C
- May 38 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 39 °C / 26 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Sugarcane: 9 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 iron.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
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.
- ₹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 346 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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.
Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.