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

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?

Palakkad Kerala

Good fit in Palakkad

Lentil (Masoor)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around February

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

₹20,000–₹30,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹4,000–₹14,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 9/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 380 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 140 mm it can use in a normal year (90 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 31 °C / 24 °C
Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
Dec 32 °C / 23 °C
Jan 33 °C / 23 °C

Soil

Soil for Lentil (Masoor): 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

The pH here suits it.
Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 4.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,027 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹6,950 a quintal, the middle of 10 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹13,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹7,390 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹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.

How to make it work

Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.

Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.

Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

4 kg

DAP

35 kg

MOP

13 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Palakkad

What it needs

Temperature

15–29 °C

best 15–29° 5° 32°

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

best 5.5–7.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.2.

Soil

No salty soil
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); ICAR-CSSRI crop salt tolerance; 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

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 Krishi Vigyan Kendra

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 a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹8,800

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

This week lentil (masoor) sells at about ₹6,950 a quintal: India's middle price at 10 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹12,600 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹7,390 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹14,400 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: ₹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

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): ₹7,390 a quintal for 2027-28. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Palakkad 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: 4.1 quintals an acre (1.0 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 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.

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

0.0–2.8
2.9–3.3
3.4–3.8
3.9–4.3
4.4–21

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

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.

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

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).