Wheat
Sow in November, harvest around March
Sowing time is now.
Grown on 1.7 lakh acres here. Sold at 2 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 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 390 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 100 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 / 13 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 9 °C
- Jan 23 °C / 8 °C
- Feb 28 °C / 11 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
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: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 17 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 ₹2,290 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹2,750 a quintal, the middle of 41 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹2,610 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹1,740 2021
- ₹2,160 2022
- ₹2,280 2023
- ₹2,510 2024
- ₹2,470 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 17 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
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):
- Urea 99%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 22%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 11%
- Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 2%