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?

Gadag Karnataka
Water
Season

Won't work: too dry without irrigation

Horse Gram (Kulthi)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around February

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

Grown on 1,949 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.

Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on

  • Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.

Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 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 30 °C / 20 °C
  • Nov 30 °C / 18 °C
  • Dec 30 °C / 16 °C
  • Jan 31 °C / 17 °C

Soil

Soil for Horse Gram (Kulthi): 10 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: salt.

  • The pH here suits it.

Likes pH 5.5–7.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 1.8 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹3,573 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹4,949 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov).

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹3,010 2021
  2. ₹4,630 2022
  3. ₹6,550 2023
  4. ₹5,790 2024
  5. ₹3,610 2025

Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.

Prices are usually best in September.

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

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

  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 100%
See every crop that suits Gadag

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 Gadag 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).