Gram (Chana)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 883 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹11,000–₹17,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹2,000–₹7,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 280 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 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 30 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 25 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 11 °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 3.7 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 77% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 77% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹5,000 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 ₹1,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,958 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹4,610 2021
- ₹4,460 2022
- ₹4,840 2023
- ₹5,500 2024
- ₹5,330 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 6.5 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.