Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 85 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹19,000–₹28,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹122–₹9,000 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 230 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (10 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 29 °C / 17 °C
- Nov 25 °C / 11 °C
- Dec 21 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 18 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 22 °C / 10 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Gram (Chana): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
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).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹5,135 a quintal across mandis in your state.
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 ₹13,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹4,900 2023
- ₹6,860 2024
- ₹5,520 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 4.9 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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.