Cashew
Planted once, harvested year after year.
When to sow and harvest
Planted once, usually at the start of the rains. It stays for years: the first real harvest comes after about 3 years, then one every year.
Will it grow on your land?
Pick your place and water to see:
- Whether Cashew suits your land Good fit, possible or won't work, with the reasons.
- What it could earn an acre From yields near you and mandi prices.
- Water and fertiliser it needs Irrigations for your water, and bags for one acre.
What it needs
Temperature
Survives 5–46 °C.
Water
Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:
Soil pH
Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 3.8 to 8.7.
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°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.
Fertiliser for one acre
Watch out for
What an acre earns
At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.
Left an acre, a year, once it bears
₹18,600
- Yield India's average
- 2.6 quintals an acre
- × Price harvest price last season (Mar–May 2026)
- ₹14,855 a quintal
- = Income
- ₹39,100
- − Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys
- −₹20,500
- = Left
- ₹18,600
This week cashew sells at about ₹11,350 a quintal: India's middle price at 6 mandis, latest 12 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹9,400 a year.
A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹31,300 to ₹46,900 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.
It bears from about year 3: nothing to sell before.
Work it out for your landMandi price, month by month
Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–May 2026, Sep–Nov 2026).
Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).
Where it grows in India
- Area grown in India
- 29.9 lakh acres
- 2025-26
- Average yield
- 2.6 quintals an acre (0.7 tonnes a hectare)
- 2025-26
- Most area
- Odisha
- 18% of India's
States that grow it
Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.
Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).
Where it grows most
The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.
District figures cover only 19% of India's cashew area, so the districts aren't listed. The states show where it grows.
Soil and yield
How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.
Cashew yields tend to be lower in districts with
- More soil low in nitrogen moderate 41 districts
- More soil low in organic carbon weak 53 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).