Moth Bean

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Aug–Sep.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.
Ready in
75 days
about 2½ months
Water
300–350 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
24–32 °C
0 °C survives 13–45 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 100% of its area
Today
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?

Hanumangarh Rajasthan
Water
Season

Possible in Hanumangarh, with effort

Moth Bean

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around August

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 99,924 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹6,000–₹9,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹2,000–₹6,000 an acre a season

  • Needs care: Risky: 6 irrigations short
  • Needs care: Warm in June
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 80 mm it can use in a normal year, and 50 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 24–32 °C on average, and survives 13–45 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

  • Jun 41 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jul 38 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)
  • Aug 37 °C / 27 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Moth Bean: 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen, potassium and boron.

  • The pH here suits it.
  • Most fields here are short of organic carbon.

Likes pH 6.5–8.2.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 0.9 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (August–September 2026): about ₹8,600 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹9,750 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis across India (latest 12 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹5,000 a season after typical costs.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹6,910 2021
  2. ₹6,570 2022
  3. ₹6,320 2023
  4. ₹5,950 2024
  5. ₹6,330 2025

Prices are usually best in October.

Typical costs are about ₹4,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.

How to make it work

  • Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.

    Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.

    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):

  • Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 11%
  • Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 10%
  • Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate / Monohydrate 8%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 3%
See every crop that suits Hanumangarh

What it needs

Temperature

24–32 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 13–45 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

300–350 mm over its season

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

Bikaner Churu Barmer Jodhpur Nagaur

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 8.8.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Grows even on poor soil
  • N Makes its own nitrogen
  • S Needs plenty of sulphur
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-CAZRI; 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

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

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

₹5,600

Yield India's average
1.1 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Aug–Sep 2026)
₹8,600 a quintal
= Income
₹9,400
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹3,800
= Left
₹5,600

This week moth bean sells at about ₹9,750 a quintal: India's middle price at 3 mandis, latest 12 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹6,900 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹7,500 to ₹11,300 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
October, ₹9,650 a quintal
Lowest
December, ₹6,550 a quintal
₹9,650
₹6,550
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–May 2026, Jul–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Hanumangarh Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
24.4 lakh acres
2020-21
Average yield
1.1 quintals an acre (0.3 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2022-23
Most area
Bikaner
Rajasthan
Best yield
Jammu
2.3 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.

99% of India's moth bean area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Bikaner Rajasthan 51% 8.4 lakh acres
  2. 2 Churu Rajasthan 39% 6.5 lakh acres
  3. 3 Hanumangarh Rajasthan 6.0% 99,924 acres
  4. 4 Jaisalmer Rajasthan 1.3% 21,055 acres
  5. 5 Kachchh Gujarat 1.0% 16,337 acres
  6. 6 Ahmedabad Gujarat 0.7% 10,865 acres
  7. 7 Ganganagar Rajasthan 0.3% 5,807 acres
  8. 8 Jalore Rajasthan 0.2% 2,762 acres
  9. 9 Tapi Gujarat 0.1% 1,599 acres
  10. 10 Bandipora Jammu And Kashmir 0.1% 1,421 acres

Moth Bean yield, quintals an acre (average of 2018-19 to 2022-23 in most districts)

  1. 0.5–1.0
  2. 1.1–1.3
  3. 1.4–1.7
  4. 1.8–1.9
  5. 2.0–7.1
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). 2017-18 to 2022-23.

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). 2017-18 to 2022-23.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 1 q 2 q 3 q
1997-98 2020-21
Latest 1.4 quintals an acre in 2020-21

Area sown across India, acres

0 20 lakh 40 lakh 60 lakh
1997-98 2020-21
Latest 24.4 lakh acres in 2020-21

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). 1997-98 to 2020-21.

Soil and yield

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

Moth Bean yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil high in organic carbon strong 30 districts
  • More soil that is neutral moderate 30 districts

Moth Bean yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is alkaline moderate 30 districts
  • More soil low in organic carbon moderate 30 districts
  • More soil short of zinc weak 30 districts
  • More soil short of iron weak 30 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).