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Vidarbha orange beltAkola district: rain, crops and how green the fields are.
Akola district gets about 778 mm of rain in an average year, 682 mm of it from June to September. Cotton covered the largest crop area in 2013-14, followed by pulses. Its cropland was greenest in Sep 2026 and barest in Jun 2026 in the Sentinel-2 record of the past year.
Facts, with their sources
Each fact names the public document it comes from and the year of its data. Where two official sources disagree, both are shown.
- The official normal rainfall is 808.9 mm, over about 47 rainy days. Block normals run from 722 mm in Balapur to 854.1 mm in Patur.Source: Central Ground Water Board, Aquifer Maps and Ground Water Management Plan, Akola District · Date: 2018
- Principal crops in 2013-14: cotton 122,169 hectares, pulses 103,212, oilseeds 68,857 and cereals 60,529.Source: Central Ground Water Board, Akola District report (areas given in sq km) · Date: 2018 (crop year 2013-14)
- The soils are medium black and deep black; the Purna river plain runs through the district.Source: Central Ground Water Board, Akola District report · Date: 2018
Rain in Akola in an average year
Akola gets about 778 mm of rain in an average year, 682 mm of it from June to September.
For comparison, the official normal in the Central Ground Water Board's report is 808.9 mm a year. Source: Central Ground Water Board, Aquifer Maps and Ground Water Management Plan, Akola District · 2018
Source: CHIRPS v2.0 rainfall (Climate Hazards Center, UC Santa Barbara; Funk et al. 2015), averaged over the area by VarshaKrishi. It is a satellite-and-rain-gauge estimate, so it differs from official normals, which use other years and stations.
How green Akola's fields were, October 2025 to September 2026
Akola's cropland was greenest in Sep 2026 (NDVI 0.67) and barest in Jun 2026 (NDVI 0.11).
The monthly numbers
| Month | Greenness (NDVI) | Clear dates |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 0.63 | 4 |
| Nov 2025 | 0.63 | 5 |
| Dec 2025 | 0.59 | 5 |
| Jan 2026 | 0.51 | 5 |
| Feb 2026 | 0.35 | 5 |
| Mar 2026 | 0.23 | 5 |
| Apr 2026 | 0.17 | 5 |
| May 2026 | 0.15 | 5 |
| Jun 2026 | 0.11 | 5 |
| Jul 2026 | no clear view | 0 |
| Aug 2026 | no clear view | 0 |
| Sep 2026 | 0.67 | 4 |
Source: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data 2025-2026 (via the Microsoft Planetary Computer), processed by VarshaKrishi; cropland mask: ESA WorldCover 2021. NDVI runs from about 0.1 for bare soil to about 0.8 for a dense green crop. Orchards mapped as tree cover are not in this curve. How it is computed · Download the data (CSV)
What the satellite sees here
The satellite record VarshaKrishi has published is for one field near Katol, Nagpur district. The same satellites pass over every field in Vidarbha.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 48 Sentinel-2 dates gave a clear view of at least 30 per cent of Akola's cropland. Monsoon cloud is the main gap, which is why the weekly message says so when the satellite could not see a field.
These pages describe the place and what the satellite sees. They give no fertiliser, pesticide or irrigation amounts, and neither does the free Watch message. Ask your KVK for doses.
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Other parts of the belt
Districts
- Nagpur district
- Amravati district
- Wardha district
- Washim district
- Buldhana district
- Yavatmal district
- Chandrapur district
- Gadchiroli district
- Gondia district
- Bhandara district
Orange talukas
Last checked (AI-assisted): 18 Oct 2026. Facts checked against the sources listed on 18 Oct 2026 with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by an agronomist or local experts.