Tobacco
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 5,466 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 8 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 8 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 430 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 20 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
About 82% of Tobacco in Kurnool, the nearest district with figures, is grown on rain alone. Your district has no figure of its own.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–30 °C on average, and survives 7–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 32 °C / 24 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 21 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 19 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 19 °C
- Feb 35 °C / 21 °C
Soil
Soil for Tobacco: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of zinc.
Likes pH 5.0–6.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 7.9 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
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).
- ₹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 zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.