Sweet Potato
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 40 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹1.3 lakh–₹1.9 lakh
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹73,000–₹1.4 lakh an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 400 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 360 mm it can use in a normal year, and 210 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 18–28 °C on average, and survives 10–38 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 33 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 30 °C / 23 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 21 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 20 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 21 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sweet Potato: 7 out of 10 (okay).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 76 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 89% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 89% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹2,388 a quintal across India's mandis.
- ₹1,740 2021
- ₹1,980 2022
- ₹1,940 2023
- ₹2,380 2024
- ₹2,500 2025
Prices are usually best in September.
Typical costs are about ₹55,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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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.
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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.
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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.