Wheat
Sow in November, harvest around March
Sowing time is now.
Grown on 5.5 lakh acres here. Sold at 16 mandis in your district.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Needs care: Very hot in March
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 380 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 5–27 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 30 °C / 11 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 7 °C
- Jan 22 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 27 °C / 9 °C
- Mar 32 °C / 15 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Days in March get hotter than it likes. Time sowing so it flowers before then.
Soil
Soil for Wheat: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen, potassium and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 18 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 (March–April 2026): about ₹2,479 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹2,676 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your district (latest 12 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹2,610 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹1,930 2021
- ₹2,100 2022
- ₹2,300 2023
- ₹2,420 2024
- ₹2,560 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹19,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
-
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.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 98%
- Urea 97%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 15%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 6%