Tapioca (Cassava)

Water

Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,130 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 860 mm it can use in a normal year, and 550 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 38 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
• Jul 32 °C / 25 °C
• Aug 31 °C / 25 °C
• Sep 32 °C / 25 °C
• Oct 33 °C / 22 °C
• Nov 31 °C / 18 °C
• Dec 30 °C / 15 °C
• Jan 31 °C / 15 °C
• Feb 34 °C / 18 °C
• Mar 37 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 40 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
• May 43 °C / 29 °C (outside its best range)
• Jun 38 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Days in April get hotter than it likes. Young plants need shade and water then.

Soil

Soil for Tapioca (Cassava): 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: zinc, iron, copper and manganese.

• 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 77% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 77% 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 71 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.6 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.