Sunflower

Water

Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.

Needs about 390 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 140 mm it can use in a normal year (70 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 10 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 17–34 °C on average, and survives 5–45 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Oct 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
• Nov 11 °C / 1 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 6 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 3 °C / -6 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 5 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 9 °C / -1 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
• May 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)

Soil

Soil for Sunflower: 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: sulphur and boron.

• The pH here suits it.
• Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

Likes pH 6.0–7.5.

Money

Yield: about 4.2 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (July 2026): about ₹7,580 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹7,283 a quintal, the middle of 20 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).

Minimum support price: ₹8,343 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Prices are usually best in August.

Typical costs are about ₹23,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.