Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 43,107 acres here. Sold at 4 mandis in your district.
₹11,000–₹16,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹2,000–₹8,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 340 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 160 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 34 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 33 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 31 °C / 12 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 11 °C
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: salt.
- 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 5.2 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 49% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 49% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹5,243 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹7,000 a quintal, the middle of 122 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹609 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹4,610 2021
- ₹4,650 2022
- ₹4,810 2023
- ₹5,400 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
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 6.9 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 30%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 2%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 2%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 0%