Jowar (Sorghum)
Sow in October, harvest around February
This season's sowing time (September–October) is over.
Grown on 121 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹9,000–₹13,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹4,000 to a profit of ₹716 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Needs care: Cool in November
- Suits: Soil 8/10
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 280 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 20 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 8–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 30 °C / 19 °C
- Nov 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 25 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 24 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Jowar (Sorghum): 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it, though not most crops.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.5–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 4.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 76% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 76% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (March 2026): about ₹3,548 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹3,675 a quintal, the middle of 123 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹1,000 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹4,023 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹12,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 4.9 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.
Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.