Horse Gram (Kulthi)
Sow in June, harvest around October
This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.
Grown on 2.5 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹7,000–₹11,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹807 to a profit of ₹3,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Needs care: Warm in June
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 420 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 360 mm it can use in a normal year, and 260 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):
- Jun 39 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 34 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Horse Gram (Kulthi): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 86% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 86% of this yield.
Mandi price at this season's harvest so far (October–November 2026): about ₹5,459 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 ₹170 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 ₹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 3.2 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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.