Horse Gram (Kulthi)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 62 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 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 350 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 70 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 / 22 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 31 °C / 17 °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 boron.
Likes pH 5.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.5 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 ₹4,925 a quintal, the middle of 11 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹3,010 2021
- ₹4,630 2022
- ₹6,550 2023
- ₹5,790 2024
- ₹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
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil 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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 100%
- Urea 100%