Castor Seed

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

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

99% of its area.

Ready in

160 days

about 5½ months

Water

600–630 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

20–30 °C

0 °C survives 15–39 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 99% of its area

Today

Sow Harvest

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Almora Uttarakhand

Won't work: too cold in November

Castor Seed

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in July, harvest around December

This season's sowing time (July–August) is over.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

₹37,000–₹56,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹13,000–₹32,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Doesn't suit: Too cold in november
Suits: Soil 8/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 430 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 470 mm it can use in a normal year, and 340 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 15–39 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Jul 27 °C / 20 °C
Aug 27 °C / 19 °C
Sep 27 °C / 18 °C
Oct 25 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
Nov 21 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
Dec 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)

Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Soil

Soil for Castor Seed: 8 out of 10 (good).

The pH here suits it.
Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

Likes pH 6.0–7.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 7.5 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹6,218 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹7,560 a quintal, the middle of 9 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹33,000 a season after typical costs.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹4,670 2021
₹6,580 2022
₹5,720 2023
₹5,530 2024
₹6,000 2025

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹24,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.

How to make it work

Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.

Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.

Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

21 kg

DAP

35 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Almora

What it needs

Temperature

20–30 °C

best 20–30° 15° 39°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 15–39 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

600–630 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Kachchh Patan Banas Kantha Mahesana Jalore

Soil pH

best 6–7.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.5.

Soil

No salty soil
Needs rich soil
S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-IIOR; 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

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

With irrigation

Urea nitrogen

57 kg about 1¼ bags of 45 kg

DAP phosphate

35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

13 kg about ¼ of a 50 kg bag

Rain-fed: urea 21 kg, DAP 35 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 Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Semilooper

Pest

Look for

Leaves eaten by green caterpillars that move in loops.

What to do first

Pick off caterpillars; spray when they are many. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Capsule borer

Pest

Look for

Webbed spikes with caterpillars boring into the capsules.

What to do first

Remove webbed spikes; spray when damage spreads. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Wilt

Disease

Look for

Plants wilt and dry; brown streaks inside the stem.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety and rotate crops.
Grey mould

Disease

Look for

Grey fungal growth on the spikes in rainy weather.

What to do first

Spray carbendazim when rain is forecast at flowering. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

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 season

₹23,000

Yield India's average: 7.6 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Dec 2025–Jan 2026): ₹6,218 a quintal
= Income: ₹47,100
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys: −₹24,100
= Left: ₹23,000

This week castor seed sells at about ₹7,560 a quintal: India's middle price at 9 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹33,200 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹37,700 to ₹56,500 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

November, ₹7,536 a quintal

Lowest

May, ₹5,849 a quintal

₹5,849

₹7,536

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–May 2026, Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Almora Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 23.6 lakh acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 7.6 quintals an acre (1.9 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Kachchh; Gujarat
Best yield: Jamnagar; 13 quintals an acre

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.

Castor Seed yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

0.7–1.2
1.3–1.9
2.0–3.1
3.2–7.8
8.0–20

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2.5 q 5 q 7.5 q 10 q

1999-00 2024-25

Latest 7.5 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 10 lakh 20 lakh 30 lakh 40 lakh

1999-00 2024-25

Latest 23.6 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

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

Castor Seed yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil high in phosphorus moderate 123 districts

Castor Seed yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil that is acidic weak 127 districts
More soil low in phosphorus weak 123 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).