Lentil (Masoor)

A winter crop. Sow in Oct–Nov, harvest in Feb–Mar.

Check it on your land
Season
Rabi
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.
Ready in
115 days
about 4 months
Water
270–350 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
15–29 °C
0 °C survives 5–32 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 100% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
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?

Water
Season

Pick your place and water to see:

  • Whether Lentil (Masoor) suits your land Good fit, possible or won't work, with the reasons.
  • What it could earn an acre From yields near you and mandi prices.
  • Water and fertiliser it needs Irrigations for your water, and bags for one acre.

What it needs

Temperature

15–29 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 5–32 °C.

Water

270–350 mm over its season

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

Sagar Vidisha Bahraich Rajgarh Banda

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.2.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • N Makes its own nitrogen
  • P Needs plenty of phosphorus and sulphur
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); 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 KVK

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
4 kg less than a quarter of a 45 kg bag
DAP phosphate
35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag
MOP potash
13 kg about ¼ of a 50 kg bag

Sulphur: 8 kg for one acre, from about 45 kg of gypsum or 65 kg of single super phosphate

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 KVK
  • Wilt
    Disease

    Look for

    Plants droop and dry in patches; brown streaks inside the stem.

    What to do first

    Grow a resistant variety, treat seed with Trichoderma and rotate crops.

  • Rust
    Disease

    Look for

    Brown powdery spots on the leaves and pods.

    What to do first

    Grow a resistant variety; spray mancozeb when spots appear. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Aphids
    Pest

    Look for

    Clusters of small insects on shoots and pods.

    What to do first

    Spray only if clusters are thick; ask your KVK.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and this year's price at harvest. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹8,900

Yield India's average
4.1 quintals an acre
× Price mandi price at the 2026 harvest (Feb, Mar)
₹6,027 a quintal
= Income
₹24,600
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹15,800
= Left
₹8,900

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹7,390 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹14,500. 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: ₹19,700 to ₹29,600 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹7,400 a quintal
Lowest
February, ₹5,889 a quintal
₹5,889
₹7,400
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis. Average of 2025–2026.

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹7,390 a quintal for 2027-28. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices at mandis near you Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
40.7 lakh acres
2024-25
Average yield
4.0 quintals an acre (1.0 tonnes a hectare)
2024-25
Most area
Sagar
Madhya Pradesh
Best yield
Jhargram
6.2 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.

31% of India's lentil (masoor) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Sagar Madhya Pradesh 5.9% 2.3 lakh acres
  2. 2 Vidisha Madhya Pradesh 4.8% 1.9 lakh acres
  3. 3 Bahraich Uttar Pradesh 3.8% 1.5 lakh acres
  4. 4 Rajgarh Madhya Pradesh 2.6% 1.0 lakh acres
  5. 5 Banda Uttar Pradesh 2.5% 98,735 acres
  6. 6 Damoh Madhya Pradesh 2.5% 98,523 acres
  7. 7 Ashoknagar Madhya Pradesh 2.5% 97,801 acres
  8. 8 Dindori Madhya Pradesh 2.2% 88,064 acres
  9. 9 Jalaun Uttar Pradesh 2.2% 87,655 acres
  10. 10 Balrampur Uttar Pradesh 2.1% 82,771 acres

Lentil (Masoor) yield

  1. 0.0–2.8 quintals an acre
  2. 2.9–3.3 quintals an acre
  3. 3.4–3.8 quintals an acre
  4. 3.9–4.3 quintals an acre
  5. 4.4–21 quintals an acre
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). 2006-07 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). 2006-07 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2 q 4 q 6 q
2006-07 2024-25
Latest 4.0 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

30 lakh 35 lakh 40 lakh 45 lakh
2006-07 2024-25
Latest 40.7 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). 2006-07 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Lentil (Masoor) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is neutral weak 277 districts

Lentil (Masoor) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic weak 277 districts
  • More soil medium in nitrogen weak 260 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).