Horse Gram (Kulthi)
Sow in July, harvest around November
This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.
Grown on 51,366 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹3,000–₹5,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹3,000–₹4,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 400 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 210 mm it can use in a normal year, and 130 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 20–28 °C on average, and survives 17–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jul 32 °C / 24 °C
- Aug 32 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 23 °C
- Oct 32 °C / 23 °C
Soil
Soil for Horse Gram (Kulthi): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.1 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025): about ₹3,935 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 lose about ₹2,000 a season at 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 ₹8,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 3.4 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.
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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 60%
- Urea 16%
- NPK Mixture 12%
- Urea Ammonium Phosphate 3%