Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 155 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹14,000–₹20,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹5,000 to a profit of ₹2,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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 31 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 13 °C
- Jan 24 °C / 12 °C
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 6.0–8.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 3.3 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹5,171 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,000 a quintal, the middle of 283 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹4,000 a season after typical costs.
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.
How to make it work
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Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.