Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around May
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 33 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in january
- 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 380 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 140 mm it can use in a normal year (70 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 100 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 21 °C / 11 °C
- Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 14 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 11 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 18 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 23 °C / 12 °C
- May 26 °C / 15 °C
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
Likes pH 6.0–8.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 4.5 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 (May–June 2026): about ₹5,426 a quintal across India's mandis.
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.
- ₹4,710 2021
- ₹4,510 2022
- ₹4,790 2023
- ₹6,300 2024
- ₹5,530 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.