Jowar (Sorghum)

A winter crop. Sow in Sep–Oct, harvest in Jan–Feb.

Check it on your land

Season

Rabi

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

62% of its area. Also grown in kharif.

Ready in

110 days

about 3½ months

Water

340–380 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

22–35 °C

0 °C survives 8–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 62% of its area

Kharif 38% of its area

Today: kharif harvest

Sow Harvest

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

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?

Jhabua Madhya Pradesh

Possible in Jhabua, with effort

Jowar (Sorghum)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around October

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 3,327 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.

₹10,000–₹15,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹3,000 to a profit of ₹2,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 8/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 380 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 610 mm it can use in a normal year, and 440 mm in a dry year.

Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 8–40 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Jun 37 °C / 26 °C
Jul 31 °C / 24 °C
Aug 30 °C / 23 °C
Sep 31 °C / 23 °C

Soil

Soil for Jowar (Sorghum): 8 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: salt.

The pH here suits it.
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 works

Money

Yield: about 4.7 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at this season's harvest so far (October–November 2026): about ₹2,578 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹2,650 a quintal, the middle of 11 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹60 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹4,023 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹1,360 2021
₹1,700 2022
₹2,020 2023
₹2,250 2024
₹2,220 2025

Prices are usually best in March.

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 8.1 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.

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

Urea 5%
Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 0%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

28 kg

DAP

18 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Jhabua

What it needs

Temperature

22–35 °C

best 22–35° 8° 40°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 8–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

340–380 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Solapur Ahilyanagar Dharashiv Beed Belagavi

Soil pH

best 5.5–8

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 8.5.

Soil

Takes a little salt
Needs rich soil
N Needs plenty of nitrogen and zinc

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-IIMR; 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

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

With irrigation

Urea nitrogen

57 kg about 1¼ bags of 45 kg

DAP phosphate

35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

27 kg about half a 50 kg bag

Rain-fed: urea 28 kg, DAP 18 kg an acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Shoot fly

Pest

Look for

The central shoot dries out in young plants.

What to do first

Sow early with the first rains and use a little more seed.
Stem borer

Pest

Look for

Holes in the leaves and a dried central shoot.

What to do first

Destroy stubble after harvest; spray only when damage spreads. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Grain mould

Disease

Look for

Grains turn black, pink or white and soft when rain falls at harvest.

What to do first

Choose a variety that ripens after the rains; harvest on time and dry the grain well.
Charcoal rot

Disease

Look for

Stalks fall over; inside, the stem is shredded with black specks.

What to do first

Avoid water stress at grain filling and don't sow too thick.

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

₹4,700

Yield India's average: 4.7 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price this season so far (Oct–Nov 2026): ₹3,701 a quintal
= Income: ₹17,200
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹12,500
= Left: ₹4,700

This week jowar (sorghum) sells at about ₹3,675 a quintal: India's middle price at 123 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹4,600 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹4,023 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹6,200 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹13,800 to ₹20,600 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

October, ₹3,701 a quintal

Lowest

April, ₹3,000 a quintal

₹3,000

₹3,701

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹4,023 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Jhabua Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 96.2 lakh acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 4.7 quintals an acre (1.1 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Solapur; Maharashtra
Best yield: Nandyal; 11 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.

Jowar (Sorghum) yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

1.3–3.2
3.3–4.6
4.7–5.8
5.9–6.9
7.0–30

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

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.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2 q 4 q 6 q

1999-00 2024-25

Latest 5.0 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 1 crore 2 crore 3 crore

1999-00 2024-25

Latest 96.2 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Jowar (Sorghum) yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil that is neutral weak 327 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).