Cotton

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Dec–Jan.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
99% of its area.
Ready in
170 days
about 5½ months
Water
670–700 mm
over its season
Temperature
22–36 °C
0° survives 15–42 °C 40°

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 99% of its area
Today
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Will it grow on your land?

Water
Season

Pick a place and water to see if it suits your land, and what it earns.

What it needs

Temperature

22–36 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 15–42 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

670–700 mm over its season
Jalgaon Yavatmal Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Surendranagar Amreli

Worked out where most of it grows. Rain and irrigation together.

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 9.5.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • K Needs plenty of potassium and boron
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°).

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your KVK
Urea nitrogen
85 kg 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
40 kg 1 bag of 50 kg

Bt and hybrid cotton under irrigation often get more; follow your state's guide

Rain-fed: N 24, P₂O₅ 12, K₂O 12 kg an acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your KVK
  • Pink bollworm
    Pest

    Look for Flowers stay closed like a rosette; small holes in bolls with pink caterpillars inside; stained lint.

    First Finish the crop by December and don't keep stubble. Use pheromone traps and destroy hit bolls; spray only when trap catches are high. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Whitefly
    Pest

    Look for Leaves turn yellow and sticky with black mould; tiny white flies rise when the plant is shaken.

    First Use yellow sticky traps and neem oil, and avoid strong sprays early in the season. Spray only on advice.

  • Jassids
    Pest

    Look for Leaf edges curl down and turn yellow, then red.

    First Grow a hairy-leaved tolerant variety; spray when many plants are hit. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Leaf curl virus
    Disease

    Look for Leaves curl upward with thick veins and small cup-like growths underneath.

    First Grow a resistant variety, pull out sick plants and weeds, and control whitefly.

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
April, ₹7,353
Lowest
June, ₹7,000
₹7,353
₹7,000
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis.

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹8,267 a quintal for 2026-27.

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
1,12,42,861 ha
2024-25
Average yield
0.4 t/ha
2024-25
Most area
Jalgaon
Maharashtra
Best yield
Purba Medinipur
1.1 t/ha

Districts with the most area (recent figures)

The map colours each district by yield, for districts growing it on at least 100 ha.

  1. Jalgaon, Maharashtra 5,25,706 ha
  2. Yavatmal, Maharashtra 4,77,850 ha
  3. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra 4,11,630 ha
  4. Surendranagar, Gujarat 3,73,880 ha
  5. Amreli, Gujarat 3,29,754 ha
  6. Jalna, Maharashtra 3,13,811 ha
  7. Beed, Maharashtra 2,99,062 ha
  8. Amravati, Maharashtra 2,67,242 ha
  9. Nalgonda, Telangana 2,55,232 ha
  10. Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh 2,43,281 ha

Cotton yield

  1. 0.0–0.3 t/ha
  2. 0.3–0.4 t/ha
  3. 0.4–0.5 t/ha
  4. 0.5–0.5 t/ha
  5. 0.5–1.1 t/ha
No data

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

  1. Purba Medinipur, West Bengal 1.1 t/ha
  2. Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh 0.8 t/ha
  3. Theni, Tamil Nadu 0.8 t/ha
  4. Gir Somnath, Gujarat 0.7 t/ha
  5. Banswara, Rajasthan 0.7 t/ha
  6. Barwani, Madhya Pradesh 0.7 t/ha
  7. Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh 0.7 t/ha
  8. Vadodara, Gujarat 0.7 t/ha
  9. Yadgir, Karnataka 0.7 t/ha
  10. Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh 0.7 t/ha

Only districts growing it on at least 100 ha.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield (t/ha)

0.4 0.4 0.5
2018-19 2024-25
Latest 0.4 t/ha in 2024-25

Area (ha)

11.2M 12.4M 13.5M
2018-19 2024-25
Latest 1,12,42,861 ha in 2024-25

Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

  • Districts with more soil high in phosphorus tend to have higher cotton yields (weak pattern, 268 districts).

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).