Groundnut

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Oct–Nov.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

85% of its area. Also grown in rabi, summer.
Ready in
110 days
about 3½ months
Water
360–570 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
22–32 °C
0 °C survives 10–45 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 85% of its area
Rabi 8% of its area
Summer 7% of its area
Today: kharif harvest
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Gangtok Sikkim
Water
Season

Won't work: too cold here in this season

Groundnut

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in November, harvest around March

Sowing time is now.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

₹42,000–₹62,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹1,000–₹22,000 an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Doesn't suit: Too cold here in this season
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

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 10 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–32 °C on average, and survives 10–45 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

  • Nov 24 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
  • Dec 20 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 18 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
  • Feb 20 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)

Soil

Soil for Groundnut: 9 out of 10 (good).

  • The pH here suits it, though not most crops.
  • Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
  • Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 5.5–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 8.0 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (March–April 2026): about ₹6,482 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹7,170 a quintal, the middle of 137 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹17,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹7,517 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹5,150 2021
  2. ₹5,500 2022
  3. ₹6,270 2023
  4. ₹5,680 2024
  5. ₹5,000 2025

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹40,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
4 kg
DAP
35 kg
MOP
27 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Gangtok

What it needs

Temperature

22–32 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–45 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

360–570 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Ananthapuramu Bikaner Rajkot Junagadh Devbhumi Dwarka

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Makes its own nitrogen
  • S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
4 kg less than a quarter of a 45 kg bag
DAP phosphate
35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag
MOP potash
27 kg about half a 50 kg bag

Gypsum: 202 kg for one acre at flowering, for calcium and sulphur

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Tikka leaf spot
    Disease

    Look for

    Dark brown round spots on the leaves; leaves fall early.

    What to do first

    Rotate crops; spray chlorothalonil or mancozeb when spots appear. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Stem rot
    Disease

    Look for

    White mould at the stem base with small mustard-like seeds; the plant wilts.

    What to do first

    Plough deep, apply gypsum and add Trichoderma to the soil.

  • Leaf miner
    Pest

    Look for

    Small brown blotches on leaves; leaves fold and dry.

    What to do first

    Use light traps; spray when many leaves are folded. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • White grub
    Pest

    Look for

    Plants wilt and die; roots and pods eaten; C-shaped grubs in the soil.

    What to do first

    Collect beetles after the first rains and plough deep; treat the soil as your KVK advises.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹11,800

Yield India's average
8.0 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Mar–Apr 2026)
₹6,482 a quintal
= Income
₹52,000
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹40,200
= Left
₹11,800

This week groundnut sells at about ₹7,170 a quintal: India's middle price at 137 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹17,400 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹7,517 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹20,100 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹41,600 to ₹62,400 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹7,109 a quintal
Lowest
December, ₹5,763 a quintal
₹7,109
₹5,763
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹7,517 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Gangtok Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
1.3 crore acres
2024-25
Average yield
8.0 quintals an acre (2.0 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2024-25
Most area
Bikaner
Rajasthan
Best yield
Purba Medinipur
19 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

36% of India's groundnut area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Bikaner Rajasthan 5.0% 6.6 lakh acres
  2. 2 Rajkot Gujarat 4.9% 6.4 lakh acres
  3. 3 Junagadh Gujarat 4.2% 5.5 lakh acres
  4. 4 Devbhumi Dwarka Gujarat 4.0% 5.3 lakh acres
  5. 5 Amreli Gujarat 3.5% 4.5 lakh acres
  6. 6 Jamnagar Gujarat 3.4% 4.4 lakh acres
  7. 7 Banas Kantha Gujarat 3.2% 4.2 lakh acres
  8. 8 Ananthapuramu Andhra Pradesh 2.7% 3.5 lakh acres
  9. 9 Shivpuri Madhya Pradesh 2.7% 3.5 lakh acres
  10. 10 Phalodi Rajasthan 2.5% 3.3 lakh acres

Groundnut yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

  1. 2.0–4.3
  2. 4.4–5.8
  3. 5.9–7.9
  4. 8.0–9.3
  5. 9.4–23
No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2.5 q 5 q 7.5 q 10 q
2004-05 2024-25
Latest 8.5 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

1 crore 1.2 crore 1.4 crore 1.6 crore 1.8 crore
2004-05 2024-25
Latest 1.3 crore acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2004-05 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Groundnut yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in phosphorus weak 381 districts
  • More soil high in potassium weak 384 districts
  • More soil that is alkaline weak 391 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).