Sesame (Til)

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

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM
69% of its area. Also grown in summer.
Ready in
90 days
about 3 months
Water
330–350 mm
over its season
Temperature
20–30 °C
0° survives 10–40 °C 40°

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 69% of its area
Summer 25% 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.

Will it grow on your land?

Water
Season

Pick your place and water to see:

  • Whether Sesame (Til) suits your land Good fit, possible or won't work, with the reasons.
  • What it could earn an acre From yields near you and mandi prices.
  • Water and fertiliser it needs Irrigations for your water, and bags for one acre.

What it needs

Temperature

20–30 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

330–350 mm over its season

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

Chhatarpur Jhansi Pali Hamirpur Jalaun

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.

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°).

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your KVK
Urea nitrogen
28 kg half a bag of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
18 kg half a bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
13 kg half a bag of 50 kg

Sulphur 20 kg/ha

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 KVK
  • Leaf webber and capsule borer
    Pest

    Look for

    Leaves webbed together; holes in the capsules.

    What to do first

    Sow early; spray when many shoots are webbed. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Phyllody
    Disease

    Look for

    Flowers turn into green leafy growths and no capsules form.

    What to do first

    Pull out sick plants and control leafhoppers.

  • Stem and root rot
    Disease

    Look for

    Plants wilt and the stem turns black at the base.

    What to do first

    Treat seed with Trichoderma and rotate crops.

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
October, ₹11,016
Lowest
March, ₹8,903
₹8,903
₹11,016
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis.

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹10,346 a quintal for 2026-27.

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
15,12,975 ha
2024-25
Average yield
0.6 t/ha
2024-25
Most area
Chhatarpur
Madhya Pradesh
Best yield
North 24 Parganas
1.4 t/ha

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.

36% of India's sesame (til) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh 7.6% 1,24,099 ha
  2. 2 Jhansi Uttar Pradesh 5.4% 87,767 ha
  3. 3 Paschim Medinipur West Bengal 4.0% 65,744 ha
  4. 4 Pali Rajasthan 4.0% 65,608 ha
  5. 5 Hamirpur Uttar Pradesh 2.8% 45,065 ha
  6. 6 Jalaun Uttar Pradesh 2.6% 43,203 ha
  7. 7 Kachchh Gujarat 2.6% 42,797 ha
  8. 8 Hooghly West Bengal 2.3% 38,204 ha
  9. 9 Mahoba Uttar Pradesh 2.3% 37,074 ha
  10. 10 Surendranagar Gujarat 2.3% 36,957 ha

Sesame (Til) yield

  1. 0.0–0.3 t/ha
  2. 0.3–0.4 t/ha
  3. 0.4–0.6 t/ha
  4. 0.6–0.7 t/ha
  5. 0.7–1.4 t/ha
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). 2010-11 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). 2010-11 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield (t/ha)

0.4 0.5 0.6
2010-11 2024-25
Latest 0.6 t/ha in 2024-25

Area (ha)

1.4M 1.8M 2.1M
2010-11 2024-25
Latest 15,12,975 ha in 2024-25

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). 2010-11 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Sesame (Til) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil medium in nitrogen moderate 410 districts
  • More soil that is acidic weak 422 districts
  • More soil high in organic carbon weak 421 districts

Sesame (Til) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil low in nitrogen moderate 410 districts
  • More soil low in organic carbon moderate 421 districts
  • More soil that is neutral weak 422 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).