Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 91 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- 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 240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 120 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 32 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 12 °C
- Dec 23 °C / 8 °C
- Jan 20 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–8.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.2 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,786 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹7,000 a quintal, the middle of 283 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹5,640 2021
- ₹5,580 2022
- ₹5,660 2023
- ₹6,750 2024
- ₹6,680 2025
Prices are usually best in May.
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 5.5 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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) 5%
- Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 3%
- Urea 2%