Turmeric

Water

Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 770 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 590 mm it can use in a normal year, and 470 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–28 °C on average, and survives 18–32 °C.

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

• Jun 38 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
• Jul 34 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
• Aug 33 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
• Sep 32 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
• Oct 31 °C / 18 °C
• Nov 27 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 22 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 19 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Nights in January can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Days in June get hotter than it likes. Time sowing so it flowers before then.

Soil

Soil for Turmeric: 7 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.

• The pH here suits it.
• Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
• Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
• Most fields here are short of manganese.

Likes pH 6.0–7.0.

Money

Yield: about 23 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (your district's own figure looked wrong).

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 ₹12,663 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹20,813 a quintal, the middle of 22 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹2.2 lakh a season 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 November.

Typical costs are about ₹1.4 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.