Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 2.0 lakh acres here. Sold at 4 mandis in your district.
₹8,000–₹12,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹7,000–₹11,000 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 310 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 20 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 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 / 21 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 12 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 12 °C
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–8.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.9 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 67% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 67% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹4,919 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹7,000 a quintal, the middle of 283 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹5,000 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹4,770 2021
- ₹4,480 2022
- ₹4,960 2023
- ₹5,820 2024
- ₹5,400 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 5.4 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.
Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.
About 18% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 75%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 72%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 18%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 15%