Bajra (Pearl Millet)
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 350 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹3,000–₹5,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹7,000–₹8,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Doesn't suit: Too cold here in this season
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough, even in a dry year.
Needs about 130 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (30 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 25–35 °C on average, and survives 12–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 26 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 20 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 18 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in December can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Bajra (Pearl Millet): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.5–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.9 quintals an acre here (district figures).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹1,990 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹2,600 a quintal, the middle of 195 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹6,000 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹2,900 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹1,340 2021
- ₹2,010 2022
- ₹2,190 2023
- ₹2,300 2024
- ₹2,270 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹11,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 86%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 81%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 57%
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 1%