Castor Seed
Sow in July, harvest around December
This season's sowing time (July–August) is over.
Grown on 2.5 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹11,000–₹16,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹8,000–₹13,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 580 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 480 mm it can use in a normal year, and 310 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 31 °C / 24 °C
- Aug 31 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 31 °C / 24 °C
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 15 °C
Soil
Soil for Castor Seed: 7 out of 10 (okay).
Not in the score: zinc, iron and boron.
- Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.8 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 82% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 82% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹5,964 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹7,625 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 12 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹7,000 a season at typical costs.
- ₹6,110 2022
- ₹5,380 2023
- ₹5,510 2024
- ₹5,680 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
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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.
-
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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
Short of manganese Your soil is likely short of manganese.
Spray manganese sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, on the young crop.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.