Tapioca (Cassava)

Planted from stem cuttings at the start of the rains; the roots are dug 8 to 10 months later.

Check it on your land
Season
Whole year
100% of its area.
Water
930–1,120 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
20–29 °C
0 °C survives 10–35 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Planted from stem cuttings at the start of the rains; the roots are dug 8 to 10 months later.

Will it grow on your land?

Nagapattinam Tamil Nadu
Water
Season

Good fit in Nagapattinam

Tapioca (Cassava)

Holds the land all year

Grown on 153 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.

₹3.8 lakh–₹5.6 lakh

per acre a year, before costs

After typical costs: ₹1.3 lakh–₹3.2 lakh an acre a year

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 940 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,000 mm it can use in a normal year, and 590 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 37 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jul 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
  • Aug 35 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
  • Sep 34 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
  • Oct 32 °C / 25 °C
  • Nov 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Dec 28 °C / 23 °C
  • Jan 29 °C / 22 °C
  • Feb 30 °C / 23 °C
  • Mar 33 °C / 24 °C
  • Apr 34 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
  • May 36 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jun 37 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

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

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

Likes pH 5.5–8.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 151 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹3,125 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹3,750 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹3.2 lakh a year after typical costs.

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.

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 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.

See every crop that suits Nagapattinam

What it needs

Temperature

20–29 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–35 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

930–1,120 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Namakkal Kallakurichi Thiruvananthapuram Kollam Dharmapuri

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4 to 9.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen and potassium
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a year, once it bears

₹2,00,400

Yield India's average
148.4 quintals an acre
× Price mandi price through the year (Dec 2025–Nov 2026)
₹3,000 a quintal
= Income
₹4,45,300
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹2,44,900
= Left
₹2,00,400

This week tapioca (cassava) sells at about ₹3,500 a quintal: India's middle price at 71 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹2,74,700 a year.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹3,56,300 to ₹5,34,400 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

It bears from its first year.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
September, ₹3,500 a quintal
Lowest
February, ₹2,850 a quintal
₹2,850
₹3,500
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Nagapattinam Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
4.4 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
148.4 quintals an acre (36.7 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
Tamil Nadu
54% of India's
Best yield
Ernakulam
205 quintals an acre

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Tapioca (Cassava) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in potassium moderate 70 districts

Tapioca (Cassava) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil short of copper strong 70 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).