Horse Gram (Kulthi)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 143 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹7,000–₹10,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹926–₹4,000 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 260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 60 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 20–28 °C on average, and survives 17–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 32 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 24 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Horse Gram (Kulthi): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it, though not most crops.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 5.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.2 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 ₹3,830 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹4,963 a quintal, the middle of 12 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹5,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹3,230 2021
- ₹4,350 2022
- ₹5,550 2023
- ₹5,920 2024
- ₹4,280 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹6,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
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Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.