Tobacco
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 289 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹25,000–₹38,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹3,000–₹15,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 130 mm it can use in a normal year (70 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 140 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–30 °C on average, and survives 7–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 32 °C / 25 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 22 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 20 °C
- Jan 29 °C / 20 °C
- Feb 30 °C / 21 °C
Soil
Soil for Tobacco: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 5.0–6.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 10 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 76% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 76% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹3,978 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 lose about ₹4,000 a season at typical costs.
- ₹4,650 2021
- ₹4,490 2022
- ₹4,570 2023
- ₹5,130 2025
Prices are usually best in December.
Typical costs are about ₹23,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2022–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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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.