Niger Seed

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

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

80% of its area. Also grown in rabi.
Ready in
100 days
about 3½ months
Water
280–320 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
18–26 °C
0 °C survives 11–34 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 80% of its area
Rabi 20% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
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?

Kalahandi Odisha
Water
Season

Possible in Kalahandi, with effort

Niger Seed

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around January

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

Grown on 3,490 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹9,000–₹13,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹291–₹5,000 an acre a season

  • Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 270 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 18–26 °C on average, and survives 11–34 °C.

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

  • Oct 29 °C / 21 °C
  • Nov 28 °C / 16 °C
  • Dec 26 °C / 13 °C
  • Jan 27 °C / 13 °C

Soil

Soil for Niger Seed: 8 out of 10 (good).

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

Likes pH 5.5–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 1.2 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹8,763 a quintal across India's mandis.

Minimum support price: ₹10,052 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹5,600 2021
  2. ₹6,380 2022
  3. ₹8,000 2023
  4. ₹8,000 2024
  5. ₹8,130 2025

Prices are usually best in August.

Typical costs are about ₹8,000 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

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Urea 10%
  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 8%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 2%
  • Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 2%
See every crop that suits Kalahandi

What it needs

Temperature

18–26 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 11–34 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

280–320 mm over its season

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

Koraput Jashpur Dindori Rayagada Surguja

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 5 to 7.5.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron
How the soil score works

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

₹2,600

Yield India's average
1.3 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Jan–Feb 2026)
₹8,763 a quintal
= Income
₹11,000
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹8,400
= Left
₹2,600

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹10,052 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹4,200 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: ₹8,800 to ₹13,200 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
August, ₹11,700 a quintal
Lowest
January, ₹8,375 a quintal
₹8,375
₹11,700
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–Oct 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹10,052 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Kalahandi Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
1.2 lakh acres
2024-25
Average yield
1.3 quintals an acre (0.3 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2024-25
Most area
Jashpur
Chhattisgarh
Best yield
Simdega
2.9 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.

61% of India's niger seed area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Jashpur Chhattisgarh 19% 36,799 acres
  2. 2 Koraput Odisha 14% 27,630 acres
  3. 3 Dindori Madhya Pradesh 7.5% 14,845 acres
  4. 4 Rayagada Odisha 4.0% 7,983 acres
  5. 5 Surguja Chhattisgarh 3.4% 6,690 acres
  6. 6 Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 2.9% 5,752 acres
  7. 7 Bastar Chhattisgarh 2.9% 5,702 acres
  8. 8 Jhabua Madhya Pradesh 2.5% 4,944 acres
  9. 9 Shivpuri Madhya Pradesh 2.5% 4,907 acres
  10. 10 Anuppur Madhya Pradesh 2.2% 4,379 acres

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

  1. 0.3–0.9
  2. 1.0–1.2
  3. 1.3–1.5
  4. 1.6–2.2
  5. 2.3–2.9
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.

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.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0.8 q 1 q 1.2 q 1.4 q
1999-00 2024-25
Latest 1.1 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 2.5 lakh 5 lakh 7.5 lakh 10 lakh
1999-00 2024-25
Latest 1.2 lakh acres in 2024-25

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). 1999-00 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Niger Seed yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic moderate 82 districts
  • More soil high in phosphorus moderate 79 districts

Niger Seed yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil low in nitrogen moderate 82 districts
  • More soil that is alkaline moderate 82 districts
  • More soil that is neutral moderate 82 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).