Moong (Green Gram)
Sow in October, harvest around December
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 25 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹10,000–₹15,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹4,000 to a profit of ₹494 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 210 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 20 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 21–36 °C on average, and survives 8–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Moong (Green Gram): 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: pH and sulphur.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Most fields here are short of zinc.
Likes pH 6.2–7.5. We have no pH figures for this place.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.0 quintals an acre here (district figures).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹6,108 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹8,000 a quintal, the middle of 164 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹2,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹8,780 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹6,010 2021
- ₹6,130 2022
- ₹7,280 2023
- ₹7,580 2024
- ₹6,880 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹14,000 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 4.7 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 99%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 93%
- Urea 93%