Tobacco

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Oct–Nov.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

59% of its area. Also grown in rabi.
Ready in
120 days
about 4 months
Water
420–480 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
15–30 °C
0 °C survives 7–35 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 59% of its area
Rabi 41% of its area
Today: kharif harvest
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh
Water
Season

Good fit in Visakhapatnam

Tobacco

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in July, harvest around November

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 814 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹59,000–₹89,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹37,000–₹67,000 an acre a season

  • 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 410 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 440 mm it can use in a normal year, and 290 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 15–30 °C on average, and survives 7–35 °C.

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

  • Jul 32 °C / 26 °C
  • Aug 32 °C / 26 °C
  • Sep 32 °C / 26 °C
  • Oct 32 °C / 25 °C
  • Nov 30 °C / 21 °C

Soil

Soil for Tobacco: 8 out of 10 (good).

  • The pH here suits it.
  • Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
  • Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
  • Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 5.0–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 11 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025): about ₹6,500 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹2,300 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹4,000 a season after typical costs.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹4,650 2021
  2. ₹4,490 2022
  3. ₹4,570 2023
  4. ₹5,130 2025

Prices are usually best in December.

Typical costs are about ₹22,000 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.

  • 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.

See every crop that suits Visakhapatnam

What it needs

Temperature

15–30 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 7–35 °C.

Water

420–480 mm over its season

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

Mysuru Kheda Anand Prakasam Cooch Behar

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 7.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
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 season

−₹1,100

Yield India's average
8.5 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price this season so far (Oct–Nov 2026)
₹2,609 a quintal
= Income
₹22,300
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹23,400
= Left
−₹1,100

At this price, tobacco hasn't covered its cost: about ₹2,609 a quintal, against about ₹2,740 it costs to grow one.

This week tobacco sells at about ₹2,300 a quintal: India's middle price at 7 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would lose about ₹3,800 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹17,800 to ₹26,700 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
December, ₹6,500 a quintal
Lowest
November, ₹2,300 a quintal
₹2,300
₹6,500
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 Visakhapatnam Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
12.0 lakh acres
2024-25
Average yield
8.5 quintals an acre (2.1 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2024-25
Most area
Kheda
Gujarat
Best yield
Kasganj
19 quintals an acre

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.

74% of India's tobacco area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Kheda Gujarat 18% 2.0 lakh acres
  2. 2 Anand Gujarat 17% 1.9 lakh acres
  3. 3 Mysuru Karnataka 14% 1.6 lakh acres
  4. 4 Prakasam Andhra Pradesh 8.8% 98,328 acres
  5. 5 Mahesana Gujarat 3.8% 42,899 acres
  6. 6 Cooch Behar West Bengal 2.9% 32,842 acres
  7. 7 Vadodara Gujarat 2.8% 30,853 acres
  8. 8 Bapatla Andhra Pradesh 2.5% 28,454 acres
  9. 9 Eluru Andhra Pradesh 2.1% 23,163 acres
  10. 10 Palnadu Andhra Pradesh 2.0% 22,066 acres

Tobacco yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

  1. 2.4–4.8
  2. 5.3–7.1
  3. 7.2–9.7
  4. 10–12
  5. 13–30
No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2019-20 to 2024-25.

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). 2019-20 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2.5 q 5 q 7.5 q 10 q
1998-99 2024-25
Latest 8.6 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 20 lakh 40 lakh 60 lakh
1998-99 2024-25
Latest 12.0 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 1998-99 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Tobacco yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is neutral strong 67 districts

Tobacco yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic moderate 67 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).