Niger Seed
Sow in November, 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 your state.
₹7,000–₹11,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹1,000 to a profit of ₹2,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 280 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 18–26 °C on average, and survives 11–34 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 31 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 26 °C / 10 °C
- Feb 30 °C / 13 °C
Soil
Soil for Niger Seed: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 5.5–6.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.3 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 71% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 71% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹9,400 a quintal across mandis in your state.
Minimum support price: ₹10,052 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹6,460 2022
- ₹8,400 2023
- ₹8,380 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
-
Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.
Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.