Sweet Orange (Mosambi)
Holds the land all year
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹1.2 lakh–₹1.7 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 4
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹10,000 to a profit of ₹48,000 an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 7 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 7 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,220 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 880 mm it can use in a normal year, and 640 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 13–38 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 31 °C / 25 °C
- Aug 31 °C / 25 °C
- Sep 31 °C / 24 °C
- Oct 34 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 33 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 31 °C / 14 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 13 °C
- Feb 33 °C / 15 °C
- Mar 37 °C / 19 °C
- Apr 39 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- May 40 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sweet Orange (Mosambi): 7 out of 10 (okay).
- Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of iron, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.0–6.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 67 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).
A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 4 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.
On rain alone it gets about 72% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 72% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹3,000 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹2,250 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹18,000 a year at typical costs.
- ₹4,430 2022
- ₹3,830 2023
- ₹3,190 2024
- ₹3,450 2025
Prices are usually best in June.
Typical costs are about ₹1.3 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
-
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.
-
Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
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.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.