Horse Gram (Kulthi)

A winter crop. Sow in Oct–Nov, harvest in Feb–Mar.

Check it on your land
Season
Rabi
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

60% of its area. Also grown in kharif.
Ready in
110 days
about 3½ months
Water
330–350 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
20–28 °C
0 °C survives 17–35 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 60% of its area
Kharif 40% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
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?

Korea Chhattisgarh
Water
Season

Possible in Korea, with effort

Horse Gram (Kulthi)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around February

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

No figures for this season in your district. Priced from mandis across your state.

₹4,000–₹6,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹2,000 to a profit of ₹215 an acre a season

  • Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 290 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 10 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 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 31 °C / 20 °C
  • Nov 28 °C / 14 °C
  • Dec 26 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 25 °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.
  • 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 organic carbon.

Likes pH 5.5–7.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 1.8 quintals an acre here in its other seasons (district figures).

On rain alone it gets about 70% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 70% of this yield.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (March 2026): about ₹4,000 a quintal across mandis in your state.

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 ₹422 a season after typical costs.

Prices are usually best in March.

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

  • 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.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

  • 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.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Urea 15%
  • Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 5%
See every crop that suits Korea

What it needs

Temperature

20–28 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 17–35 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

330–350 mm over its season

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

Mysuru Krishnagiri Chamarajanagar Chittoor Mandya

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 8.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • N Makes its own nitrogen
  • P Needs plenty of phosphorus and sulphur
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

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

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

₹3,700

Yield India's average
2.5 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Feb–Mar 2026)
₹3,830 a quintal
= Income
₹9,600
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys
−₹5,900
= Left
₹3,700

This week horse gram (kulthi) sells at about ₹4,963 a quintal: India's middle price at 12 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹6,500 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹7,700 to ₹11,500 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
October, ₹5,623 a quintal
Lowest
March, ₹3,795 a quintal
₹3,795
₹5,623
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).

Latest prices near Korea Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
6.9 lakh acres
2022-23
Average yield
2.5 quintals an acre (0.6 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2022-23
Most area
Mysuru
Karnataka
Best yield
Ranga Reddy
4.7 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.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

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). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 1 q 2 q 3 q
2003-04 2022-23
Latest 2.5 quintals an acre in 2022-23

Area sown across India, acres

0 5 lakh 10 lakh 15 lakh 20 lakh
2003-04 2022-23
Latest 6.9 lakh acres in 2022-23

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). 2003-04 to 2022-23.

Soil and yield

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

Horse Gram (Kulthi) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in phosphorus weak 158 districts

Horse Gram (Kulthi) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil short of zinc weak 162 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).