Elephant foot yam (suran, oal, jimikand) is grown in Kerala, Odisha, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu among others as an 8-month corm crop, and it also grows under coconut shade. Its main costs are seed corms and labour, and its main disease risk is collar rot. ICAR trials gave 23 to 32 tonnes per hectare (9 to 13 tonnes per acre), well below the 50 to 80 tonnes that appear in some promotions.

Yield is not the hard part; selling is. Kerala mandi prices in 2026 were only about ₹24 to ₹55 per kg, and the corm is a bulky, perishable vegetable, so confirm where you will sell before planting a large area.

Where it grows and what it needs

  • Trial sites: ICAR-CTCRI Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar (Odisha); Navsari Agricultural University (south Gujarat, black cotton soil); and Thiruvarur on the Tamil Nadu east coast, where it was grown between coconut palms. The crop is also grown across Kerala.
  • Soil and water: well-drained soil is needed. Poor drainage and warm wet weather favour collar rot. Gujarat trial plots were irrigated; the Bhubaneswar crop was rainfed with four supplementary irrigations in October to January.
  • Shade: ICAR-CTCRI describes the crop as shade tolerant, and in a Thiruvarur trial it was grown between 38-year-old coconut palms planted 7.5 x 7.5 m.
  • Duration: the Bhubaneswar crop was planted in mid-June and harvested in mid-February, 8 months after planting.

Varieties

VarietySourceTrial result
GajendraANGRAU (2006)28.9 t/ha under coconut in Thiruvarur; 50% emergence in 56 days; mean corm weight 1.34 kg; 25.3% dry matter. Bhubaneswar trial: 23 to 32 t/ha
Sree PadmaICAR-CTCRI (1993)24.8 t/ha in the same Thiruvarur trial; 50% emergence in 62 days; mean corm 0.98 kg
Local typeFarmers' own14.8 t/ha; slow, 93 days to 50% emergence
  • Gajendra gave the best net return in the Thiruvarur trial. ICAR-CTCRI notes that no cultivated variety is resistant to collar rot.
  • No variety-wise acridity (itching) rating was verified. In the Bhubaneswar trial, FYM-based organic nutrition lowered calcium oxalate in corms compared with chemical fertiliser alone.

Seed corms, spacing and planting

  • Seed size: the Bhubaneswar trial planted 400 g Gajendra corms at 90 x 90 cm. A Navsari trial compared 250, 500 and 750 g corms and three spacings (60 x 60, 75 x 50, 75 x 60 cm); the highest yield, 74.6 t/ha, came from 500 g corms at 75 x 60 cm, but results across the other combinations were erratic (34 to 60 t/ha), so treat this as one trial, not a promise.
  • Plants per acre: 90 x 90 cm is 12,346 per hectare (about 4,940 per acre); 75 x 60 cm is about 22,200 per hectare (about 8,990 per acre). Under coconut, Thiruvarur used 45 x 90 cm beds.
  • Seed needed: 400 g x 4,940 plants is about 2 tonnes of seed corm per acre, and 500 g x 8,990 plants is about 4.5 tonnes per acre. Seed is the largest single input, so price it before deciding the spacing.
  • Treat the cut corms or whole corms three days before planting (see the collar rot section). Thiruvarur trials dipped cut pieces in cow dung solution to stop moisture loss, and filled pits with 2 to 3 kg of farmyard manure and top soil.
  • Mulch with paddy straw or grass after planting; weed and earth up at about 20, 40 and 70 days (Bhubaneswar) or at 45 days (Navsari).

Nutrition

ProgrammePer hectarePer acreYield reported
Bhubaneswar, chemical (N-P2O5-K2O)80-60-100 kgabout 32-24-40 kg23.4 t/ha
Bhubaneswar, FYM + ash + biofertilisers10 t FYM + 5 t ash + 5 kg Azospirillum + 5 kg PSBabout 4 t FYM + 2 t ash + 2 kg Azospirillum + 2 kg PSB32.0 t/ha
Navsari, FYM + chemical15 t FYM + 100:50:150 kg N:P2O5:K2Oabout 6 t FYM + 40:20:61 kg34 to 75 t/ha across corm size and spacing
  • Apply manure and phosphorus at land preparation or in the pit. At Bhubaneswar, half the nitrogen and potash went on one month after planting and the rest a month later; at Navsari, half went into the pit at planting and half at 45 days with earthing up. See fertilizers and confirm with a soil test.

Collar rot and other problems

  • ICAR-CTCRI calls collar rot (Sclerotium rolfsii) the most common and damaging disease in all growing areas. It causes water-soaked lesions at the stem base, yellowing and collapse, with white fungal growth and mustard-like brown sclerotia. It also causes storage rot in harvested corms.
  • Cultural: disease-free corms, field drainage, deep ploughing, straw mulch, removal of infected plants, and rotation with non-host crops; repeated yam in the same field raises disease.
  • Chemical (CTCRI): treat corms three days before planting with mancozeb + carbendazim at 2 g per litre, and drench after intercultural work at the same rate. Follow the label and your KVK's advice.
  • Organic (CTCRI): Trichoderma in cow dung slurry at 5 g per kg of corm, Trichoderma-enriched FYM at 2 to 2.5 kg per pit, and 150 g Trichoderma vermicompost per plant at the collar after weeding. See pests.
💡 Tip: Do not plant yam twice in the same field. Buy seed corm from a reliable source, since infected corms carry collar rot into the new crop.

Harvest and yield

  • Harvest about 8 months after planting, when leaves yellow and dry. The Bhubaneswar crop gave about 25 to 32 t/ha under organic or mixed nutrition and 23.4 t/ha under the chemical recommendation.
  • Thiruvarur trial under coconut: Gajendra 28.9 t/ha, Sree Padma 24.8 t/ha, local 14.8 t/ha. The yield of coconut did not fall: nuts per palm rose from 86.5 to 92.8 a year (an increase of 6.3 percent).
  • The 74.6 t/ha figure from Navsari is one treatment of one trial. Realistic farm plans use 20 to 30 t/ha.

Cost and returns

  • Trial costs: ₹75,000 per hectare (Thiruvarur, 2013 to 2015) and ₹110,000 to ₹132,000 per hectare (Bhubaneswar, 2006 to 2008). These are old, so get local quotes for seed corm, labour and manure.
  • Trial returns: Thiruvarur: gross ₹2.31 lakh per hectare, net ₹1.56 lakh and benefit-cost ratio 3.1 at about ₹8 per kg. Bhubaneswar: net ₹1.24 to ₹2.03 lakh per hectare at ₹10 per kg.
  • 2026 prices: Agmarknet data for Kerala markets showed about ₹2,400 to ₹5,500 per quintal (₹24 to ₹55 per kg) between May and August 2026, depending on the market.
  • Illustration per acre (gross): 10 t at ₹30 per kg is ₹3.0 lakh; 12 t at ₹45 per kg is ₹5.4 lakh. Subtract seed, labour, manure, fungicide and transport from your own quotes. Net can be well below these because seed alone is about 2 tonnes per acre.

Market and risks

  • The corm is sold as a vegetable through local mandis. Prices differed more than twofold between Kerala markets in 2026, so check mandi bhav and your own nearby mandi before planting.
  • Collar rot also destroys stored corms, so plan sales soon after harvest or treat before storing (ICAR-CTCRI suggests Trichoderma-enriched cow dung slurry for stored corms).
  • Be cautious of firms promising fixed buy-back at high prices for suran seed corm; ask your KVK or horticulture department first. Group marketing through an FPO and KCC credit may help, and the subsidy finder lists schemes. No tuber-crop subsidy rate was verified.

Sources