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Explore Rabi and horticulture crop guides with practical tips on cultivation, nutrition, pest control, disease management, and better crop growth.
69 articles
16 minPea (matar) is a cool-season legume. In the plains of North India sow from about the first week of October to mid-November (ICAR e-course; Assam package: mid-October to mid-November). Seed rate depends on the source and the variety: about 24 kg per acre (Assam, 60 kg per hectare) to about 40 kg per acre (TNAU, 100 kg per hectare). Treat seed, use a Rhizobium culture, give a light starter dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, and irrigate lightly at flowering and pod filling. Spray sulphur at the first white powder of powdery mildew. Early garden-pea varieties give the first pods in about 65 to 70 days; plan 3 to 4 pickings about 10 days apart.
17 minGarlic is a cool-season (rabi) bulb crop. Sow cloves between September and November, earlier in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka and later in the northern plains. Use about 200-240 kg of cloves per acre (500-600 kg per hectare, TNAU), planted 15 cm by 10 cm. Treat cloves, keep the soil well drained, weed at about 30 and 60 days and watch thrips and purple blotch. Harvest when tops turn yellow and dry, 130-180 days after planting depending on variety. Published yields run from about 32 to 49 quintals per acre, but price, not yield, decides profit: garlic has no MSP.
9 minAt 1.82 m x 1.82 m spacing, one acre holds about 1,220 G9 plants. Reported yields are about 30 to 35 tonnes per acre in an Andhra Pradesh report and about 32 tonnes per acre in a Gujarat study. ICAR-NRCB gives fertiliser per plant of 200 g N, 30 to 50 g P and 300 to 450 g K in split doses. Reported costs vary from about Rs 87,000 (Gujarat study) to Rs 3 lakh over two years (Andhra report).
13 minPublished surveys put potato cost at about Rs 57,000 per acre in Gujarat (2019-20, table varieties), about Rs 87,000 in Sirmaur and about Rs 1.25 lakh in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh (both 2022-23). The range is wide because seed price, labour and region differ. ICAR-CPRI recommends 60 cm x 20 cm spacing (about 33,700 plants per acre), 30 to 60 g seed tubers (about 10 to 16 quintals of seed per acre depending on tuber size), and 140:120:60 kg N:P2O5:K2O per hectare, which is about 57:49:24 kg per acre. The national average yield is about 104 quintals per acre. Add up your own costs, use your own price, and test a bad-year case before planting.
15 minAvocado grows in cool to warm, frost-free, well-drained areas with 1,000 to 1,500 mm rain (ICAR), mainly Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of Maharashtra and the North-East. Plant grafted trees of an A-type and a B-type variety, for example Arka Supreme with Arka Coorg Ravi. ICAR gives 110 plants per acre at 6 m x 6 m. Grafted trees fruit in 3 to 4 years, but ICAR says commercial yields start around year 8. A university table puts the cost of one hectare at Rs 5,36,040. No official source gives a farm-gate price or profit per acre, so work those out with your own buyer quotes.
16 minMakhana (fox nut, Euryale ferox) is an aquatic crop grown in still water. There are two systems: the old pond system (deep water, about a year) and the field system (shallow water of about 30 to 60 cm, seedlings transplanted in late March to early April, harvest around July to August). Improved varieties are Swarna Vaidehi and Sabour Makhana-1. Seed yield in the field system is about 2.6 to 3 tonnes per hectare (about 10.5 to 12 quintals per acre) in the Bihar Horticulture document. The raw seed (gurri) must be roasted and popped by skilled workers, so popping and selling decide the profit as much as growing does.
10 minVanilla (Vanilla planifolia) is an orchid vine grown mainly in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It flowers from the 3rd year, every flower must be hand-pollinated the same morning, and green pods need months of curing. Cured bean yield is about 300-600 kg per hectare, and prices swing sharply.
9 minIndoor saffron farming grows saffron crocus in a cooled room, often on racks or aeroponics. Reported setup costs range from about ₹30,000 for a small trial to ₹6-₹10 lakh for a proper room. Flowering needs about 15-18°C. Yields are small, so claims of lakhs a month from one room are usually exaggerated.
14 minDragon fruit (Kamalam) is a climbing cactus grown on concrete poles. It starts fruiting 12 to 18 months after planting and gives full yield from about the third year (Vikaspedia, ICAR). The ICAR-IIHR article says about 4 to 6 tonnes per acre can be harvested if the orchard is well managed. Set-up is expensive: the ICAR Tripura table puts one hectare at Rs 25.5 lakh in the first year. Prices in the sources range from Rs 50 to Rs 300 per kg depending on year and place, so work out profit with your own mandi price and your own quotes, not with a number from a blog.
8 minOyster mushroom farming means growing Pleurotus mushrooms on pasteurized straw inside a clean room. A beginner room of 100-200 sq ft can start with ₹20,000-₹60,000 (guide estimate). One cycle takes 30-45 days, and sale prices of ₹120-₹250 per kg are commonly reported.
6 minProtect mango flowers from panicle emergence to just before full bloom. Control hoppers, mealy bug, powdery mildew and anthracnose with timed sprays, but stop at full bloom so bees can pollinate.
18 minOnion is a cool-season bulb crop grown from nursery seedlings in kharif, late kharif and rabi seasons. Raise the nursery on raised beds with 8-10 kg of seed per hectare (about 3-4 kg per acre, our conversion), transplant 6-7 week old seedlings in kharif and 8-9 week old seedlings in rabi, and keep the crop weed-free for the first 30-45 days. Split the nitrogen, finish top dressing before bulbing, give light weekly irrigation and stop irrigation 10-15 days before harvest. Harvest about one week after half the tops fall (rabi), cure well and store in a ventilated, dry place. Irrigated rabi onion gives 25-30 tonnes per hectare (NHB), about 10-12 tonnes per acre. Price, not yield, decides profit.
