Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 95,663 acres here. Sold at 7 mandis in your district.
₹15,000–₹22,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹4,000 to a profit of ₹4,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
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 280 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 150 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–29 °C on average, and survives 7–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 35 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 24 °C / 10 °C
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–8.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 7.1 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 53% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 53% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹4,981 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹6,888 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹7,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹4,490 2021
- ₹4,330 2022
- ₹4,550 2023
- ₹6,120 2024
- ₹5,200 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹19,000 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
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 7.4 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 90%
- Urea 70%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 36%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 4%