Sunflower
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.
₹17,000–₹26,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹6,000 to a profit of ₹3,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 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):
- Nov 30 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 10 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 9 °C
- Feb 29 °C / 12 °C
Soil
Soil for Sunflower: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 4.2 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).
On rain alone it gets about 78% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 78% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,632 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,283 a quintal, the middle of 20 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹414 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹8,343 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹5,570 2021
- ₹5,590 2022
- ₹4,440 2023
- ₹4,340 2024
- ₹4,960 2025
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.