Tapioca (Cassava)

Water

Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 620 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 520 mm it can use in a normal year, and 420 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–29 °C on average, and survives 10–35 °C.

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

• Jun 27 °C / 17 °C
• Jul 24 °C / 17 °C
• Aug 24 °C / 17 °C
• Sep 23 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
• Oct 21 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
• Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 14 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 11 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 18 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 23 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
• May 26 °C / 15 °C
• Jun 27 °C / 17 °C

Nights in November can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Soil

Soil for Tapioca (Cassava): 8 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: sulphur and boron.

• The pH here suits it.
• Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 5.5–8.0.

Money

Yield: about 149 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

On rain alone it gets about 84% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 84% of this yield.

Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹3,000 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹3,500 a quintal, the middle of 70 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.9 lakh a year after typical costs.

Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.

Prices are usually best in September.

Typical costs are about ₹2.4 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.