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
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?

Surat Gujarat
Water
Season

Possible in Surat, with effort

Jowar (Sorghum)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around February

This season's sowing time (September–October) is over.

Grown on 5,856 acres here. Sold at 5 mandis in your district.

₹7,000–₹10,000

per acre a season, before costs

Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹2,000–₹6,000 an acre a season

  • Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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 35 °C / 22 °C
  • Nov 34 °C / 18 °C
  • Dec 32 °C / 15 °C
  • Jan 31 °C / 13 °C

Soil

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

  • 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 4.3 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹2,013 a quintal at mandis in your district.

This week: about ₹3,675 a quintal, the middle of 123 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹3,000 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. ₹1,480 2021
  2. ₹1,530 2022
  3. ₹2,020 2023
  4. ₹2,300 2024
  5. ₹2,160 2025

Prices are usually best in July.

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

  • 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.

    About 100% of local fields of this crop get it.

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

  • Urea 100%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 16%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
28 kg
DAP
18 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Surat

What it needs

Temperature

22–35 °C
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

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

₹2,300

Yield India's average
4.7 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Jan–Feb 2026)
₹3,183 a quintal
= Income
₹14,800
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹12,500
= Left
₹2,300

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: ₹11,800 to ₹17,800 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
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).

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

Latest prices near Surat 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.

40% of India's jowar (sorghum) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Solapur Maharashtra 8.1% 8.4 lakh acres
  2. 2 Ahilyanagar Maharashtra 5.4% 5.7 lakh acres
  3. 3 Dharashiv Maharashtra 3.9% 4.0 lakh acres
  4. 4 Sangli Maharashtra 3.6% 3.8 lakh acres
  5. 5 Beed Maharashtra 3.5% 3.6 lakh acres
  6. 6 Ajmer Rajasthan 3.5% 3.6 lakh acres
  7. 7 Belagavi Karnataka 3.3% 3.5 lakh acres
  8. 8 Satara Maharashtra 3.1% 3.2 lakh acres
  9. 9 Pune Maharashtra 2.6% 2.7 lakh acres
  10. 10 Parbhani Maharashtra 2.5% 2.7 lakh acres

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

  1. 1.3–3.2
  2. 3.3–4.6
  3. 4.7–5.8
  4. 5.9–6.9
  5. 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.

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.

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.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 1999-00 to 2024-25.

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).