Tapioca (Cassava)
Holds the land all year
Grown on 14,483 acres here. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.
₹4.7 lakh–₹7.1 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
After typical costs: ₹2.3 lakh–₹4.6 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,030 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 850 mm it can use in a normal year, and 610 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 / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 35 °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 33 °C / 24 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 23 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 21 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 21 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 21 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 23 °C
- Apr 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- May 37 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 37 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Tapioca (Cassava): 7 out of 10 (okay).
- 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.
- Most fields here are short of iron.
Likes pH 5.5–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 158 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 83% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 83% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹4,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.
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 ₹2.5 lakh a year after typical costs.
Prices are usually best in March.
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.
About 55% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
-
Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.
Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 92%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 63%
- Urea Ammonium Phosphate 55%
- Urea 43%