Lentil (Masoor)
Sow in November, harvest around August
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 2.5 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Needs care: Cool in November
- Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 630 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 250 mm it can use in a normal year (130 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–29 °C on average, and survives 5–32 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 11 °C / 1 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 6 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 3 °C / -6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 5 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 9 °C / -1 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
- May 20 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 23 °C / 12 °C
- Jul 22 °C / 13 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Lentil (Masoor): 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.6 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 (August–September 2026): about ₹7,175 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹6,950 a quintal, the middle of 10 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹7,390 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹6,000 2021
- ₹6,220 2022
- ₹5,860 2023
- ₹6,660 2024
- ₹6,740 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹16,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.