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 1,350 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 450 mm it can use in a normal year, and 380 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 36 °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 25 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 21 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 18 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 22 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 33 °C / 19 °C
- May 37 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 36 °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: nitrogen.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 334 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 Haryana fixed for its mills for 2026-27: ₹430 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 338 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.