Lentil (Masoor)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 2.3 lakh acres here. Sold at 22 mandis in your district.
₹12,000–₹19,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹3,000 to a profit of ₹3,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 330 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 15–29 °C on average, and survives 5–32 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 33 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 25 °C / 10 °C
Soil
Soil for Lentil (Masoor): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Many fields here are short of phosphorus, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 4.3 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 61% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 61% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,027 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹5,750 a quintal, the middle of 2 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹932 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹7,390 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹5,980 2021
- ₹6,180 2022
- ₹5,580 2023
- ₹5,790 2024
- ₹6,100 2025
Prices are usually best in May.
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.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 3.9 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 35%
- Urea 33%
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 12%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 4%