Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 19 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 19 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,520 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 580 mm it can use in a normal year, and 440 mm in a dry year.
About 16% of Sugarcane in Visakhapatnam, the nearest district with figures, is grown on rain alone. Your district has no figure of its own.
Temperature
Grows best at 24–37 °C on average, and survives 15–41 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 35 °C / 27 °C
- Jul 32 °C / 26 °C
- Aug 32 °C / 26 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 25 °C
- Oct 31 °C / 24 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 21 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 18 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 29 °C / 18 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 31 °C / 20 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 23 °C
- Apr 35 °C / 26 °C
- May 37 °C / 27 °C
- Jun 35 °C / 27 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sugarcane: 8 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 organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 255 quintals an acre here (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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 381 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 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.