Sesame (Til)
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 India.
₹8,000–₹12,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹3,000–₹7,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Doesn't suit: Too cold here in this season
- Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough, even in a dry year.
Needs about 140 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 40 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 180 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 10–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 23 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 16 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 20 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in January can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Sesame (Til): 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen, organic carbon, sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.2 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹8,323 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹14,050 a quintal, the middle of 81 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹2,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹7,840 2021
- ₹9,550 2022
- ₹13,310 2023
- ₹11,590 2024
- ₹8,860 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹15,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.